peter
Business Reporter
THE African Union Development Agency (AUDA) and the Ecobank Group are working on setting up a continental framework to support African micro-small-medium enterprises to recover from the disruptive impact of Covid-19.
The micro-small to medium enterprises (MSMEs) constitute a large economic base in Africa and have been hard hit by the deadly pandemic, with little or no absorption capacity, said Ecobank in a statement distributed by the APO Group.
This has prompted AUDA-NEPAD chief executive officer Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki and Ecobank Group chief executive officer Mr Ade Ayeyemi to agree to collaborate on a continental initiative to support African MSMEs as they face the economic and social challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Covid-19 pandemic while affecting global economies, will have a devastating effect on African economies and businesses,” said Dr Mayaki.
“AUDA-NEPAD and Ecobank Group intend to jointly build a continental platform based on our initial ‘100,000 SMEs by 2020’ campaign, which will provide an immediate response to the potential impact of Covid-19 on SMEs and job creation on the continent.”
He added that AUDA-NEPAD will leverage on its existing instruments, networks, and programmes to gather stakeholders around a digital platform that showcases and monitors the progress made.
Mr Ayeyemi remarked that the fragility of some of the African economies was more pronounced with the impact of Covid-19 hence continental coordination was essential to support national measures by governments to curb the spread of the virus on the continent.
He further underscored that MSMEs, which form a large part of individual economies in Africa have little or no absorption capacity to the effect of the pandemic.
“As a longtime partner of AUDA-NEPAD, we welcome the opportunity to work with the Agency to co-lead this continental platform that will empower MSMEs with knowledge, resources, mentoring, technical expertise and financial support to ensure the sustainability of their businesses during and post COVID-19. The objective of the continental platform is indeed aligned with the Ecobank vision of contributing to the economic and social development of Africa, our home,” said Mr Ayeyemi.
The initiative seeks to create a one-stop platform, which will address the issues, challenges and needs of MSMEs during and post Covid-19, and be an all-encompassing, flexible and comprehensive one-size-fits-all tool for MSMEs in the formal and informal sectors across the continent.
It also drives towards identifying opportunities and innovative ways to support and protect MSMEs and job opportunities, especially in food and agribusinesses, technology startups, health specialized entities and those operating along with supply chain operations.
MSMEs are said to account for an estimated 90 percent of businesses in most African economies.
The other objective is to coordinate and harmonize initiatives and ongoing efforts that support MSMEs to gain access to information, finance, and fiscal stimulus during the outbreak.
The platform also aims to ensure that MSMEs have continuous access to national, regional and continental markets while recommending to policymakers, solutions regarding domestic debts as they are projected to face challenges due to the economic difficulties that the member states will face.
Online Reporter