Sunday Edition | How to Trade With Africa – Weekly Newsletter (Edition #39)
Introduction
Welcome to our 39th Edition of How To Trade With Africa!
After a month-long pause, I’m back – and not empty-handed. I’ve spent the past few weeks working on the Skills Summit for the Forwarding and Clearing Industry in South Africa. What an incredible journey. What I witnessed and experienced there reinforced a simple but powerful truth:
Africa’s biggest opportunity is not buried in the ground – it’s in its people.
And yet, we are leaving too many behind.
This 39th edition is a call to arms: to skill Africa’s youth, empower women, include people living with disabilities (PWDs), uplift Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and give unemployed men and women a real shot at economic participation.
Why Skills Are Africa’s Currency for Economic Growth
Africa is home to the youngest population on the planet – more than 60% are under 25 years old. But youth alone is not a strategy. What we need are skills that match the current and future economy.
Our industries are evolving, trade is digitizing, and technology is transforming the way we live and work. But too many young people, women, PWDs, and MSMEs are excluded from these shifts due to one core reason: they haven’t been given a chance to learn, earn, and grow.
Skills: The True Engine Behind Intra-Africa Trade
While the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) rightly emphasizes physical infrastructure, digital corridors, harmonized trade rules, and cross-border payment systems, none of it will reach the maximum success that is envisaged without the human infrastructure to match. Roads and regulations are important, but skills are what activate them.
To truly unlock the full potential and promise of intra-African trade, we need more than the hard and technical infrastructure. We need a parallel process of deliberately investing heavily in skills development and Curriculum overhaul to empower the people. We need designers, engineers, food scientists, product developers, packaging specialists, and logistics planners – people trained not just to move goods, but to manufacture products that meet export quality standards. Without these skills, Africa will continue to export raw materials and import finished goods – a cycle that limits both value addition and industrialization.
We also need entrepreneurs and MSMEs equipped with market intelligence, branding strategies, and e-commerce fluency to access new markets across the continent. It’s not enough to produce – we must also position and promote. From Lagos to Kigali, from Cairo to Cape Town, businesses must know how to navigate regulatory landscapes, consumer behaviour, and local preferences to enter and stay in new markets.
And perhaps most critically, sustaining those new markets requires after-sales support, customer service, quality assurance, and reliable supply chains – all of which are underpinned by relevant, modern, and accessible skills.
In short, infrastructure may open the borders, but only skills will move the goods, build the factories, and grow the businesses.
Skills Development must sit at the heart of Africa’s trade agenda for now and future plans, to reap long-term and sustainable Intra-Africa Trade in ports, factories, markets, and villages.
Skill Development: Who Must Be Included
When we talk about skilling Africa, we must talk about deliberate inclusion. Here’s who needs to be front and center:
🔹 Youth
Africa’s future is in their hands. But they can’t build the future with outdated skills. We must give them modern tools: digital literacy, trade skills, and entrepreneurial mindsets.
🔹 Women
Women are Africa’s backbone – in markets, farms, homes, and boardrooms. Yet they are underrepresented in formal trade, logistics, and digital industries. Skilling programs must be gender-intentional, addressing barriers like caregiving duties, access to finance, and safety.
🔹 People Living with Disabilities (PWDs)
Talent knows no physical limitation. Inclusion in skilling programs must be uncompromising – with accessible learning materials, adaptive technology, and targeted support.
🔹 Unemployed Men and Women
A degree is not the only path. Practical, short-cycle training can empower jobless citizens with the skills to earn a dignified living – especially in trades, services, agriculture, and digital platforms.
🔹 MSMEs
They are Africa’s largest employer. But many MSMEs operate informally and lack access to knowledge on cross-border trade, standards, finance, and digital tools. Skilling MSMEs isn’t just for their benefit—it’s for the entire economy.
Skills Africa Needs: Current & Future
To prepare Africa for competitive participation in global and intra-African trade, here’s what we need to focus on:
⚙️ Digital & Technical Skills
Software engineering
Cybersecurity
Data science and automation
Digital content creation
Cloud-based inventory and logistics tools
🚛 Trade & Supply Chain Competencies
AfCFTA compliance and rules of origin
Freight forwarding and documentation
Customs clearing
Trade finance and export logistics
Incoterms and Harmonized System coding
💼 Entrepreneurship and Business Skills
Digital entrepreneurship (selling via WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok Shops)
Accounting, pricing, and sales
Accessing e-commerce platforms and digital payments
Branding and customer experience
🌱 Green and Circular Economy Skills
Solar and renewable energy installation
Agro-processing with climate-smart methods
Sustainable packaging and recycling
Carbon tracking and green logistics
🧠 Soft Skills
Adaptability
Communication and negotiation
Time management
Conflict resolution and cross-cultural fluency
🛑 The Real Cost of Exclusion: What Africa Loses When We Leave People Behind
When we fail to skill and include the full range of our population – youth, women, PWDs, MSMEs, and unemployed men and women – the cost to Africa is massive, visible, and growing.
📉 1. Trillions in Lost Economic Potential
Gender inequality alone costs Sub-Saharan Africa $95 billion annually in lost productivity (World Bank).
Unskilled youth reduce labor efficiency and increase social welfare burdens.
MSMEs lack capacity and remain informal, weakening tax bases and reducing export potential.
🔥 2. Rising Social Instability and Insecurity
High youth unemployment fuels migration, unrest, and extremism.
Economic exclusion is a breeding ground for instability—not just lost income.
🧩 3. Lost Innovation and Indigenous Solutions
Women and PWDs bring perspectives and ideas that can shape inclusive innovation.
Excluding them narrows the creative bandwidth of Africa’s solutions economy.
🚫 4. Slower Implementation of AfCFTA
Trade requires trained personnel – from customs to logistics to digital payments.
Without skilled workers and informed MSMEs, AfCFTA becomes a paper treaty, not a lived transformation.
💔 5. Intergenerational Poverty
Exclusion today multiplies poverty tomorrow. Every young person left unskilled represents a family line still trapped in economic stagnation ten years from now.
🚨 Exclusion is not passive. It is active sabotage of our continent’s future.
💰 Cost vs. Benefit: A Practical Look
What It Costs to Skill
Basic technical training: $500–$1,000/year per learner
Advanced vocational/digital programs: $1,000–$2,500/year
Entrepreneurship incubation: $1,500–$3,000/year
What Africa Gains
$1 in skills = $8–$20 in long-term productivity, taxes, and job creation
Youth who work start families, pay taxes, and consume goods
MSMEs that scale become formal contributors to GDP
PWDs and women with digital skills can participate in the global economy from anywhere
This is not just an investment – it’s a multiplier.
🔔 Call to Action: Let’s Build Africa With Skills
Here’s what every stakeholder needs to do:
🏛️ Governments
Allocate national and regional budgets toward inclusive, scalable training.
Link skill development to trade, industrialization, and digital transformation policies.
Offer tax breaks or procurement preferences to companies hiring and training youth, women, and PWDs.
🏢 Employers & Industry
Offer internships, apprenticeships, and mentorship programs that prepare people for entrepreneurship tied to procurement opportunities or existing or future openings.
Hire for potential, not just experience.
Create inclusive environments for all, including people with disabilities.
🎓 Training Institutions
Align with real-world industry needs.
Deliver flexible, modular, and hybrid learning models that reach rural and urban learners.
Partner with MSMEs, Multinational Companies, and Large Businesses to offer practical on-site training as part of the curriculum.
Co-create the curriculum with Industry to align with the dynamic and ever-changing labour market.
🌍 Development Partners & Donors
Shift from project-based training to long-term skills ecosystems.
Fund multi-stakeholder skilling programs tied to value chains, not just courses.
Support AfCFTA-aligned skills programs for cross-border traders and logistics players.
Conclusion
Inclusion Is Not Optional. It’s Strategic.
Africa cannot optimally trade with itself unless she is ready and her people are geared to capitalise on the Single market. We cannot grow our economies unless everyone is part of the growth. We cannot prosper unless we skill—and include—everyone: youth, women, people with disabilities, MSMEs, and unemployed men and women.
Let’s shift from talk to training, from plans to practice. The skills we build today are the economy we grow tomorrow.
Till next Sunday,
Ngoanamokgotho Maggie Tladi
Your Trusted Partner & Editor of “How To Trade With Africa” Newsletter