…we’re set to drive $3.6 trillion AFCFTA economy – Dr Eradiri

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – FOLLOWING the 4th Africa SME Roundtable event on margins of Afreximbank Annual Meetings recently held in Abuja, the All Africa Association for Small and Medium Enterprises, AAASME, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Africa International Chamber of Commerce &Industry, AICCI, unveiled Continental SME Fund, ‘Ubuntu-Susu’, to launch SMEs in Africa from millions into billions of Dollars businesses.

Speaking during a media parley, the President, AAASME, Dr Ebiekrue Eradiri along with the Vice President, AAASME, Central Africa, Reuben Tamba, expressed optimism that with the 4th Edition of the SME Roundtable the SMEs in Africa would rapidly grow and boost the economy of each country in Africa as the business traffic will tremendously increase and also foster more regional integration including penetration of technology and seamless financial flow into businesses.

During the unveiling of the Ubuntu-Susu AAAME was led by its President, Dr Ebiekure Jasper Eradiri; SEC led by its Director General , DG, Dr Emomotimi Agama, and AICCI by the Global Board Chairman, Amb Wallace Williams.

He said: “We are also operating in an area of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, AfCFTA, which the first trading took off on the 1st of January 2021 under that platform. So what that means is that we are dealing, SMEs are dealing right now in a $3.6 trillion economy. So the potential of $3.6 trillion means that assuming SMEs are operating within a mindset of trying to make millions, they are actually limiting themselves.

“So the possibilities of actually making billions is what the conversation is all about. So basically it was helping to stir up that kind of belief that this is possible, and beyond that, we are trying to attract continental investments into the SMEs whom we have all agreed are the engine room for growth in the economy, and again, for SMEs that are already progressive, what they are looking for is exponential growth. What they want is an expansion.

“And so what this means basically is that we are looking for a handshake for them to be able to be boosted beyond being stimulated, and we believe that this engagement would have been able to provide them with that exact opportunity. So from millions to billions, we believe one of the outcomes or highlights from that would have been to have continental investments on SMEs within the continent.

“So if we are able to achieve that that alone, we would be very glad to do that but the joy of the entire Programme is the fact that there was a resolution that a continental SME fund is needed, a right-to-fit fund that SMEs can access, and going back to an old African way of engaging, asusu.

“So if Ubuntu-Susu works, all we need to do now is to innovate and bring about a better innovation in this asusu, and our brothers on the other side of the Atlantic, those in the Caribbean, and the Caribbeans and the Diaspora are the six regions of the AU States.

“So basically, what we are saying is that they brought an idea that resonated with all of us that we should call the continental SME fund Ubuntu-Susu. Ubuntu in Africa, we know what that means – it is together being strong and the spirit of love and togetherness, and then the Susu is that informal financial flow that has been happening within us in the past. So the continental fund was unveiled, and interestingly, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Timi Agama, was gracious enough to be the one to spearhead that initiative.

“And so the number one pillar of this continental fund is going to be hosted with the Securities and Exchange Commission, because we have been preaching for the last seven years for an alternative recipe to finance.”

Meanwhile, the AAASME boss also disclosed that the conversation on a SME Fund has been on, “We have been conversing and advocating for an Afrocentric model of finance, so that our SMEs, who are largely informal, and which the demographics show that they are by 100 million in the continent, will be able to have better access to finance because we believe that the present template for finance is Western-based, is colonial, has been there for over 200 years, is rigid, and it doesn’t serve the SMEs in the continent properly.

“So while we are not saying that it should be discarded, we are saying that we need an alternative, we are saying that we need to have a seat on the table to come up with a new, an upgrade, an approach, a new hybrid model, so that the SMEs in the continent will be able to benefit.

“So even if we don’t achieve anything else, the Continental SME Fund, which is private sector driven, is what has been put together and unveiled. It will be formally launched in November during the Africa Celebrates Programme. So this will be within the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.”

Speaking further about the Ubuntu-Susu, he (Eradiri) expressed optimism that, “The launch of this Ubuntu-Susu will happen around those windows, and I want to also say that the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was able to communicate in his address the importance of the SMEs, and while he was celebrating the SMEs for their resilience, he also encouraged that all African SMEs should not relent in pushing and advancing the cause for which we are pushing.

“And this alone gives us a lot of encouragement because it means that we are being recognized as those doing the right thing, advancing the cause for SMEs, and we believe that if other governments engage with us in this manner, then the SMEs will have more programmes from our own kitty, and then basically for the year 2025, we have been able to bring about lots of changes.

“And then most importantly, we had the singular privilege to have received the SME Champions Award in 2025 from the wider perspectives, and for us, this is also another pat on the back, and this happened in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and we are excited about it because it shows that we are doing something in the right direction.”

He also made it known that the challenge of exchange rates in the continental trade has been addressed after many years of working in that to tackle it.

“Well, I have one good news. The good news I have is from the conversation we have had with the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, Secretariat and the Afrexim Bank Bank, our association, only two weeks ago, was approved as a business support organisation in charge of trade and investment within the AfCFTA Secretariat.

“And what I hold here is a card from Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, PAPSS, and PAPSS is a payment settlement system for Africans. I am happy to unveil what you see here is a debit card that can be used in the 55 countries in Africa across the border, going forward, holding it live, and so, even you, in the time not far from now, will also have this card.

“So what it means is that buying and selling across the borders in Africa will truly be an easy approach. So with PAPSS, I think we have got the solution to that very serious, challenging problem. So what it means is that I pay you with my currency.”

Meanwhile, the Vice President, AAASME, Reuben Tamba, explained that the issue of communication barrier in Africa’s trade has been taken care of with the modern technology used to bridge that gap, hence businessmen and women are transacting businesses seamlessly, which he said himself as a Cameroonian who had been engaged in transborder trading never experiences such.

He also assured the over 100 million SMEs in Africa of the AAASME’s support to them as a major continental body speaking for them and working hard for their businesses to thrive.

“We are very, very much ready. We and the SMEs organisation, we are very, very much ready to carry them along so that they wouldn’t stay back and want to look on one or two difficulties or whatsoever.

“I am a practical example of cross-border movement and cross-border trade. For moving my car across six African countries a month, I should tell you that we are working the talk and we are practically doing what the AfCFTA is meant for”, he added.