For Africa to realise its continental agenda, the need to focus more on youths entrepreneurial investment,  through digital technology  visionary leadership  has been  stressed.

This formed the highlight at the 2022 annual meeting of the African Import and Export Bank (Afreximbank) which kicked off in Cairo, Egypt  yesterday.
 
President and Chairman of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah, while addressing participants at the meeting stated categorically that youths will be the catalytic force to the realisation of the continental agenda. 
   
Speaking on the theme: ‘Realizing the AfCFTA Potential in the PostCovid19 Era—Leveraging the Power of The Youth’, the Afreximbank boss decried that there has been  little progress in Africa since 1963, as decolonisation swept through Africa.
   
According to him, while intra-African trade remains small compared with the continent’s
external trade, primary commodities account for more than 70 per cent  of Africa’s exports. 
   
However, he submitted that  African prosperity hinges on youths as catalyst to economic transformations, adding that the youths have been at the base of every industrial revolution in advanced economies.

He argued  that the African youth are poised to make giant strides in a single continental market and could seamlessly become the drivers of Africa’s integration and intra-African trade.
   
“Whether a youth-powered AfCFTA will trigger a continental economic explosion or whether the next decades will become ‘Lost Decades’ for Africa will depend on how we creatively deploy the energies and talents of the continent’s youth to implement the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
   
“Indeed, the youth have always been the catalyst to economic transformations and at the base of every industrial revolution in advanced economies.
   
” It is no coincidence that at the height of each Industrial Revolution, youth constituted the largest proportion of the labour force and population.
   
“For instance, when US and Canada ascended to the ranks of major industrial powers in 1900, their population under 45 were 83 per cent  and 82 per cent, respectively; and the population between the ages of 15 and 45 years were 48 per cent and 47 per cent in the two countries.”
 
Therefore Oramah maintained that policies that give intellectual property protection, ease the cost of doing business as well as improve access to the single African market will unleash their entrepreneurial drive. 
   
According to him, a vibrant single market will open a new vista of opportunities that will broaden the choices available to the youth and empower them to reach their potential.
 
” As the youths are technology savvy, it is  believe that technology will bring down the borders that divide us, the Digital AfCFTA dubbed the African Trade Gateway
being developed in collaboration with the AfCFTA Secretariat offers a window for market Access, crossborder payment through PAPSS, Customer Due Diligence,
and e-logistics services, among others.
   
“We have also launched an SME Development programme that will target the youth for training, access to markets and access to
finance.”
 
Oramah also urged that priority be given to the continent’s culture and creative industries, as they hold the potent force for accelerating continental integration and are predominantly youth-based, noting that the bank is  promoting the industry through a dedicated 500 million US dollar funding programme.
   
“We are happy that a protocol on the Youth will be negotiated under the AfCFTA. That will provide a great opportunity to formalise the
integration of the Youth into the continent-wide agenda,” he added.