Business
Women Key to Africa Achieving its Trading Potential
NAIROBI – African countries have enormous potential for trade with the global market and for more intensive trade among themselves. Regional trade in Africa can play a vital role in diversifying economies and reducing dependence on the export of a few mineral products, in delivering food and energy security, in generating jobs for the increasing numbers of young people, and in alleviating poverty and promoting a shared prosperity.
The new volume—Women and Trade in Africa: Realizing the Potential—demonstrates how women play a key role in trade in Africa and will be essential to Africa’s success in exploiting its trade potential. Women make a major contribution to trade in most African countries through their involvement in the production of tradable goods as cross-border traders and as managers and owners of firms involved in trade.
According to Marcelo M. Giugale, Director, Department of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Programs, World Bank Africa Region, “Removing the three main obstacles to regional trade integration in Africa—misregulation, monopolies and corruption—would be particularly beneficial for poor women, as they literally carry most of the small-scale, cross-border commerce that happens within the Region. The potential benefits are huge and obvious: better food security, faster job creation, more poverty reduction, and less gender discrimination. This is a win-win-win-win reform agenda that is ready for action.”
The main messages from the volume call for Governments to recognize the role that women play in trade and ensure this is communicated to officials at all levels; Government should ensure that the rules and regulations governing trade are clear, transparent and widely available at the border. It is important to simplify documents and regulatory requirements where possible. In addition, it is essential to design interventions to develop trade in ways that ensure that women benefit.
Governments and donors are making concerted efforts to facilitate trade, to increase productivity in export-oriented sectors, and to improve competitiveness. But these need to be better targeted to ensure that women who participate in trade are reached by these interventions and that it is not just men who benefit. Finally, help women address the risks they face in their trade-related activities given that they are typically more risk averse than men and respond to risk in different ways.
In many countries in Africa, the majority of small farmers are women, and they produce crops such as maize, cassava, cotton, and rice that have enormous potential for increased trade between African countries and with the global market. Women are also involved in providing services across borders, such as education, health, and professional services, including accountancy and legal services. Hundreds of thousands of women cross borders in Africa every day to deliver goods from areas where they are relatively cheap to areas in which they are in shorter supply.
However, Africa’s trade potential is undermined by constraints that women face. The contribution of women to trade is much less than it could be because of various specific nontariff barriers that impinge particularly heavily on the trade activities of women and women-owned enterprises. These barriers often push women traders and producers into the informal economy where lack of access to finance, information, and networks jeopardize their capacity to grow and develop their business.
In its goal to ensure the equitable distribution of the benefits of integration, and specifically to empower women traders, TradeMark East Africa’s Private Sector and Civil Society Program facilitates programming to increase awareness of the challenges of informal cross border traders and build up knowledge and advocacy for a better trading environment.
Lisa Karanja, Director of the program states that ‘’…these and other deterrent conditions prevent women from taking full advantage of the opportunities created by trade and thus undermine the aspirations of countries in Africa to use trade as a driver of growth, employment, and poverty reduction.”
Yet, policy makers typically overlook women’s contribution to trade and the challenges they face. This neglect reflects, in part, the lack of data and information on women and trade in Africa and also the underrepresentation of small traders and rural producers in trade and trade policy discussions. This volume looks at the ways that women participate in trade in Africa, the constraints they face, and the impact of those constraints.
“The aim of this book is to make available new analysis on the participation of women in trade in Africa to a wide audience, says, Paul Brenton, Editor of the volume and World Bank Africa Trade Practice Leader. It highlights the key role that women will play in achieving Africa’s potential in trade. In addition to raising the profile of this public policy issue, we also hope that it will encourage more research and analysis over a wider range of African countries and so extend the knowledge base.”
NAIROBI– African countries have enormous potential for trade with the global market and for more intensive trade among themselves. Regional trade in Africa can play a vital role in diversifying economies and reducing dependence on the export of a few mineral products, in delivering food and energy security, in generating jobs for the increasing numbers of young people, and in alleviating poverty and promoting a shared prosperity.
The new volume—Women and Trade in Africa: Realizing the Potential—demonstrates how women play a key role in trade in Africa and will be essential to Africa’s success in exploiting its trade potential. Women make a major contribution to trade in most African countries through their involvement in the production of tradable goods as cross-border traders and as managers and owners of firms involved in trade.
According to Marcelo M. Giugale, Director, Department of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Programs, World Bank Africa Region, “Removing the three main obstacles to regional trade integration in Africa—misregulation, monopolies and corruption—would be particularly beneficial for poor women, as they literally carry most of the small-scale, cross-border commerce that happens within the Region. The potential benefits are huge and obvious: better food security, faster job creation, more poverty reduction, and less gender discrimination. This is a win-win-win-win reform agenda that is ready for action.”
The main messages from the volume call for Governments to recognize the role that women play in trade and ensure this is communicated to officials at all levels; Government should ensure that the rules and regulations governing trade are clear, transparent and widely available at the border. It is important to simplify documents and regulatory requirements where possible. In addition, it is essential to design interventions to develop trade in ways that ensure that women benefit.
Governments and donors are making concerted efforts to facilitate trade, to increase productivity in export-oriented sectors, and to improve competitiveness. But these need to be better targeted to ensure that women who participate in trade are reached by these interventions and that it is not just men who benefit. Finally, help women address the risks they face in their trade-related activities given that they are typically more risk averse than men and respond to risk in different ways.
In many countries in Africa, the majority of small farmers are women, and they produce crops such as maize, cassava, cotton, and rice that have enormous potential for increased trade between African countries and with the global market. Women are also involved in providing services across borders, such as education, health, and professional services, including accountancy and legal services. Hundreds of thousands of women cross borders in Africa every day to deliver goods from areas where they are relatively cheap to areas in which they are in shorter supply.
However, Africa’s trade potential is undermined by constraints that women face. The contribution of women to trade is much less than it could be because of various specific nontariff barriers that impinge particularly heavily on the trade activities of women and women-owned enterprises. These barriers often push women traders and producers into the informal economy where lack of access to finance, information, and networks jeopardize their capacity to grow and develop their business.
In its goal to ensure the equitable distribution of the benefits of integration, and specifically to empower women traders, TradeMark East Africa’s Private Sector and Civil Society Program facilitates programming to increase awareness of the challenges of informal cross border traders and build up knowledge and advocacy for a better trading environment.
Lisa Karanja, Director of the program states that ‘’…these and other deterrent conditions prevent women from taking full advantage of the opportunities created by trade and thus undermine the aspirations of countries in Africa to use trade as a driver of growth, employment, and poverty reduction.”
Yet, policy makers typically overlook women’s contribution to trade and the challenges they face. This neglect reflects, in part, the lack of data and information on women and trade in Africa and also the underrepresentation of small traders and rural producers in trade and trade policy discussions. This volume looks at the ways that women participate in trade in Africa, the constraints they face, and the impact of those constraints.
“The aim of this book is to make available new analysis on the participation of women in trade in Africa to a wide audience, says, Paul Brenton, Editor of the volume and World Bank Africa Trade Practice Leader. It highlights the key role that women will play in achieving Africa’s potential in trade. In addition to raising the profile of this public policy issue, we also hope that it will encourage more research and analysis over a wider range of African countries and so extend the knowledge base.”
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024, marking a strong performance compared to the 2.54% growth recorded during the same period in 2023 and 3.19% in Q2 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The growth was largely fueled by the services sector, which expanded by 5.19% and contributed 53.58% to the overall GDP.
READ MORE: Reps Debate Tinubu’s Loan Request
“The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2024 was driven mainly by the services sector,” the NBS stated in its report.
Key areas in this sector, including financial institutions, telecommunications, and trade, played significant roles in the economy’s growth.
The agriculture sector, while still positive, showed a slight slowdown, growing by 1.14%, compared to 1.30% in Q3 2023.
The industrial sector, however, posted a notable recovery, increasing by 2.18%, a marked improvement from the 0.46% recorded in the same quarter of 2023.
In nominal terms, Nigeria’s GDP at basic price for Q3 2024 reached N71.13 trillion, a substantial 17.26% increase from the N60.66 trillion recorded in Q3 2023.
“This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2023, which recorded an aggregate GDP of N60,658,600.37 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 17.26%,” the NBS added.
The non-oil sector also showed strong performance, growing by 3.37% in real terms during Q3 2024, outperforming the 2.75% growth seen in the same quarter of 2023 and exceeding the 2.80% growth recorded in Q2 2024.
“The sector was driven in the third quarter of 2024 mainly by financial and insurance (financial institutions); information and communication (telecommunications); agriculture (crop production); transportation and storage (road transport); trade; and construction, accounting for positive GDP growth,” the NBS explained.
Despite the growth in the non-oil sector, its share of the total GDP decreased slightly to 94.43%, compared to 94.52% in Q3 2023, though it remained higher than 94.30% in Q2 2024.
The oil sector, in contrast, recorded a 5.17% year-on-year growth in Q3 2024, reversing the -0.85% decline seen in the same period in 2023.
However, growth slowed from the 10.15% recorded in Q2 2024. The NBS reported that Nigeria’s oil production averaged 1.47 million barrels per day (mbpd) during the third quarter, a slight increase from 1.45 mbpd in Q3 2023 and 1.41 mbpd in Q2 2024.
Family-owned businesses (FOBs) can continue to drive economic success, create value for shareholders, and positively impact their communities worldwide by staying true to their core values and adopting strategic practices that prioritise long-term growth, efficiency, and resilience.
This was part of the submission made by the Group Executive Director of Dangote Industries Limited, Halima Aliko-Dangote, during the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Halima, who is also the Executive Director, Family Office, spoke at the panel session on Family Business: Looking at the Next Frontier, opined that family-owned businesses have demonstrated exceptional resilience, navigating challenges and thriving over multiple decades.
Other speakers include the Managing Director and CEO of Worldwide Hotels, Carolyn Choo; the Managing Director of Damen Yachting, Rose Damen, a third-generation family shareholder of Damen Shipyards Group; and Co-Chairman of B.GRIMM Pharma, President of B. Grimm Joint Venture, and Board Member of B. Grimm Power, Caroline Link.
ALSO READ: CSR: Dangote Cement Fuels Education With Support Projects At Lagos Schools
According to her, success in family-owned businesses starts with shared values, goals, governance policies and alignment adding that reputation is part of ‘family capital’.
She maintained that governance structure, adherence to core values, customer satisfaction, optimization of shareholder value, meritocracy, integrity, leadership, brand equity, diversification/growth, philanthropy and preserving generational wealth play key roles to the success of our businesses.
Halima revealed that Dangote Group’s governance policies do not allow board and management to operate in silos as each business unit has at least three independent directors who offer a holistic view.
On other factors of success for Dangote Group, Halima emphasized, “We family-owned businesses have to stick to our tradition of asset rich-cash moderate or as my father will correct me, asset rich-cash poor. We as Dangote perpetuate a profitable business with strong values and strong governance structure. We make money while building our nation by contributing heavily to the global economy, creating massive jobs, thinking of our great grand kids and contributing excessively to humanity.”
Highlighting the significant contribution of FOBs to the global economy, Halima noted that studies by Mckinsey showed that they account for more than 70% of global GDP, generate annual turnovers of between $60 trillion and $70 trillion, and provide around 60% of global employment.
She stressed the crucial role these businesses play in creating jobs, sustaining communities, and driving development in sectors such as manufacturing, education, healthcare, and infrastructure across the world.
“Family-owned businesses (FOBs) have proven to be resilient, weathering challenges and thriving across multiple decades. Despite facing external pressures, many FOBs not only survive but also grow, contributing significantly to the global economy in ways that are often underestimated or overlooked,” she said.
She also pointed out that family-owned businesses often employ two key approaches in preparing the next generation for leadership roles: internal and external capacity building. Regarding internal capacity building, Halima explained that many families create internship programmes for young family members interested in taking over the business or assuming leadership positions.
“In Nigeria, we train the next generation so they can grow organically to leadership roles in family businesses. My dad’s approach is for you to start from ground up knowing you will get to leadership role if you work hard and do your job right. These experiences make it easier for you to learn the ropes and be prepared for leadership role in the future,” she pointed out.
On external capacity building, Halima discussed the practice of sending younger generations to work in non-family businesses. This approach enables them to acquire new skills, learn better processes, and gain diverse perspectives that can benefit the family business in the long run.
Halima revealed that she started her career as an Analyst at KPMG before joining Dangote Industries Limited.
The approach, she explained “removes the familiarity tag as the young generation got employed as other people and supervised to monitor their performance. This has been a common avenue business families have chosen to pursue for many years, having their next generation spend three to five years working outside the family business before eventually joining with a new set of skills and business knowledge.”
Addressing the challenges of succession planning, Halima emphasised the importance of involving the younger generation in the business early on.
She suggested that this creates a space for open communication, where the next generation can share their thoughts, ideas, and aspirations, while the senior generation provides critical information to help the next leaders make informed decisions.
She stressed the need for a balance between tradition and innovation in family-owned businesses. While tradition provides continuity and stability, she noted that innovation is vital to staying relevant and competitive in the modern marketplace.
“Successful family businesses recognise the need to adapt to changing consumer preferences, technological advancements, and market trends. Family businesses often have a wealth of experience and deep-rooted traditions. They can also benefit from external expertise and fresh perspectives,” she concluded.
A total of 9,000 youths in the Niger Delta have acquired entrepreneurial skills under the LiveWIRE programme of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) since it was introduced in 2003 as part of efforts to boost employment opportunities among people aged 18 – 35 years.
It was gathered that the recipients were trained and supported with start-up grants and business mentorship enabling them to launch their own businesses and become employers of labour.
The latest training, sponsored by the SPDC Joint Venture which includes the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, TotalEnergies and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, involved more than 1,000 young entrepreneurs from host communities in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states. They graduated last week in Port Harcourt having developed business plans and pitched them to experts as part of the training. 654 trainees were selected as best-performers.
ALSO READ: CSR: Dangote Cement Fuels Education With Support Projects At Lagos Schools
“We’re delighted at the success of the LiveWIRE programme,” SPDC Director and Head Corporate Relations, Igo Weli, said at the graduation ceremony. “This training is set aside for young people from our host communities which means they can also enjoy the benefits of the programme and join the teeming number of entrepreneurs, several of whom now have the chance to participate in SPDC’s business as vendors. LIveWIRE is one of many ways through which Shell and her partners are powering progress in Nigeria.”
The graduation ceremony featured a technical conference with the theme, “Unlocking Growth: Leveraging Policies to Build an Inclusive Tech Eco System in the Niger Delta.” The keynote speaker, Iyke Kemabonta, and panelists, Soala Jumbo, Davies Awongo, Kalada Briggs, Vivien Ene and Ezieke Amaefula, challenged the beneficiaries to grow their businesses, overcome environmental challenges and enable the Niger Delta to reap the rewards of the programme.
Trainees from the 2023 Regional LiveWIRE programme from Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Edo states also joined the graduation ceremony. Beneficiaries were inducted into the LiveWIRE Alumni Group by three previous participants who now run their own businesses — Precious Adeho, Queen Esther Bolou-Ebi and Kalada Briggs. The trio encouraged the recipients to use the opportunity as launching pads into international recognition and success.
In a notable achievement, five previous beneficiaries won the LiveWIRE International “Go and Trade Enterprise Linkage Award” which enabled them to embark on trade visits to London, Dubai, Malaysia, and neighboring Ghana. Livewire Nigeria also offers beneficiaries the chance to compete for the Global Shell LiveWIRE Top Ten Innovators Award which comes with huge rewards.
LiveWIRE is Shell’s global enterprise development initiative for small businesses and is active in 18 countries. As at 2023, the programme had trained about 3,400 people and helped create more than 1,200 jobs around the world.
FULL LIST: 2024 Billboard Music Awards: Asake, Tems, Rema, Burna Boy Shines
Tyla Scores 8 Nominations At Billboard Music Awards
Ayra Starr’s “19 & Dangerous (Deluxe)” Achieves 600 Million Spotify Streams
Tinubu Applauds 3.46% GDP Growth, Vows To Deliver $1trn Economy By 2030
G7 Foreign Ministers To Meet On Netanyahu’s ICC Arrest Warrant
Loans Necessary For Budget Despite High Revenue Collections – Wale Edun
OSSG Raises Alarm Over Murder Plot By APC Chieftain
NCC, SMEDAN, NAICOM, SEC, Others Set for SUPERNEWS SMEs Conf June 13
Sahara’s Tonye Cole resigns from GPHCDA
Oando opens ultra-modern petrol station in Lagos
Niger Delta Avengers: President Buhari Reads riot Act …considers the carrot and stick option
