Say AfCFTA: The Best Acronym Since YOLO

A few days ago South Africa handed in their ratification of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, just shy of two months since Parliament said yes to the well drafted love letter proposing a life long mutually beneficial and empowering journey to Economic Prosperity for all 52 Countries.

The agreement will make Africa the largest Free Trade Area globally, building an integrated continental market of over 1 Billion People with a combined GDP of $3.3 Trillion. 

If her (Africa's) suitors are faithful in the pursuit of her Union, she could very well meet the 2063 deadline set for "The Africa We Want" in Agenda 63.

AfCFTA creates a single set of rules for trade and investment, essentially creating one play-book boosting African Unity, Business, Employment and Development. 

Internal Trade is expected to go up from less than 20% to an estimated 52% by 2022. (UN) 

There is no way Trade goes up to that extent without clear and distinct changes happening on the ground level, which is where you and I come in. 

In my opinion, anyone with an interest in either business or development needs to be well versed with this agreement. It has the potential to turn an SMME into a Multi-National corporation because of the ease it creates for business and to some extent civil society, to reach their target markets in other countries. 

The borders falling for the sake of Economic Development, mean that anyone who ignores the borders falling runs a risk of having their clientèle also swallowed up by business from other countries as opposed to leveraging the opportunity to merge or take precautions to prevent such an event.

The era of shipping out Africa's wealth and struggling to work together cohesively due to bureaucratic constraints is coming to a very welcome end my friends. Our Leaders have proven that it is in fact possible to work together for the common good of every one of us.

Is the move going to be flawless? No. It might be as difficult as saying AfCFTA. But alas, rebuilding the Kingdom and Glory of Africa will be worth it.

Mayibuye.