Africa’s drive for deeper regional integration and industrial growth continues to be constrained by the limited participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in cross-border trade.
Only about 20 percent of SMEs in the continent engage in export activity, a situation Vice President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has described as troubling.
Speaking at the opening session of the African Prosperity Dialogues 2026 on Wednesday, February 4, the Vice President lamented the persistently low involvement of women and young people in cross-border trade, despite their growing role in innovation, entrepreneurship, and the digital economy.
She attributed the weak export orientation of African SMEs to structural and financial barriers, including limited access to affordable financing, inadequate market linkages, regulatory bottlenecks and weak institutional support systems that prevent businesses from scaling beyond domestic markets.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang noted that the low export participation rate has significant macroeconomic consequences, reinforcing Africa’s dependence on raw material exports, limiting value addition and constraining job creation across the continent.
“Our youth account for more than 60 per cent of our population. Across the continent, our youth are driving technology and innovation from fintech to creative industries. However, this potential is not yet fully reflected in cross-border participation. Fewer than 20 per cent of SMEs engage in export trade,” she said.
She further highlighted that women entrepreneurs continue to face unequal barriers to finance, mobility, and market access, while many young innovators lack the capital, skills, market pathways and institutional backing required to expand across borders.
According to the Vice President, these gaps risk locking African economies into low-productivity growth models, characterised by exporting primary commodities, importing finished goods and losing skilled talent to migration in search of better opportunities.
She stressed that without targeted policy reforms, Africa could miss out on the full economic benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which was designed to expand intra-African trade, boost industrialisation and create inclusive growth.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang called for deliberate and coordinated interventions to improve access to finance, build export readiness among SMEs, reduce non-tariff barriers and strengthen regional trade infrastructure particularly for women- and youth-led enterprises.
She concluded that empowering SMEs to participate meaningfully in export trade is critical to diversifying African economies, deepening value chains, and translating demographic advantage into sustained economic growth.
