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New York, 5 November – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Electronic Trade Group (AeTrade Group) sealed a new partnership to enhance MSMEs’ access to digital marketing and the One African Market under the African Continental Free Trade Area. The Sokokuu platform – which means large market, central market and signifies unity in kiSwahili – will be deployed across the continent to specifically boost visibility, sales and markets for women and youth-owned exporting enterprises.
Speaking at the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony, Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Regional Bureau for Africa Director, emphasized the crucial role of digital transformation in enabling MSME to leapfrog challenges through the practical, innovative and results-oriented approach of AeTrade Group.
“Getting the AfCFTA’s transformative power to the ground requires unlocking bottlenecks in the way of women and young exporters. We want to increase their visibility by onboarding hundreds of SMEs in each country into the Sokokuu digital marketplace and give them a real shot in the One African Market” noted the UN Assistant Secretary-General.
The AeTrade Group is an African Diaspora-led social entrepreneurship initiative filling crucial gaps in e-commerce and other ICTs and aiming to digitalize trade in Africa at a large scale. The group encourages investment in SMEs with a view to creating more jobs for the growing youth population – generating wealth across the continent.
The partnership contributes to the overall objective of supporting 600,000 SMEs to access the AfCFTA market through the Sokokuu scalable digital capacity building marketplace whilst creating 22 million decent jobs in four years. It will focus on enhancing export readiness of women and youth–led SMEs through onboarding onto the digital marketplace; facilitate boosting of MSME exporter competitiveness, financial and digital inclusion; and promoting youth enterprise access to B2B, B2G networking, mentorship and venture capital funding at continental trade fairs.
Mr. Mulualem Syoum, CEO and Chairman of the AeTrade Group mentioned that the AeTrade Group’s approach to grassroots digital capacity building is aligned to SDG 1, 5,8 and 9. “Ultimately, we are promoting “Made in Africa” products and services on a digital platform in partnership with the African private sector, including young entrepreneurs, using a shared prosperity approach that is sustainable.”
“We appreciate the leadership of the Assistant Secretary General whose vision and passion for economic empowerment, especially for MSMEs, women and youth is exemplary,” said Mr Syoum. “We consider her one of the champions of our initiative and today’s important milestone inspires us to continue to build this movement of homegrown African solutions.”
The African Electronic Trade Group (A-eTrade Group) signed, on 19 October 2018, a memorandum of understanding with the African Union Commission to foster public-private-partnership through a continental e-commerce platform and associated services, paving the way for the development of the Sokokuu digital marketplace.
UNDP’s Renewed Strategic Offer in Africa prioritizes digitalization as a foundational enabler to accelerate attainment of Africa’s socioeconomic progress, the SDGs and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. ““AU Member States have demonstrated strong political leadership in ratifying the AfCFTA agreement and we are committed to supporting its operationalization and foster the opportunities it creates for greater inclusion across the continent, particularly for women and youth” emphasized Ahunna Eziakonwa.
For further information and interview requests, please contact:
Eve Sabbagh, Strategic Communications Specialist, UNDP, eve.sabbagh@undp.org, +1 484 904-5730
Treasure Maphanga, AeTrade, treasure.maphanga@aecdi.org.
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