<\/p>\n
Africa Business Council President Dr Amany Asfour made the call after a series of high-level economic meetings in Egypt, including the Alamein Africa Forum and Congress of Africa\u2019s Mineral Resources. \u201cMy number one priority is to see how we transform Africa from a mere exporter of raw materials towards industrialisation and made-in-Africa products,\u201d Asfour said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The meetings brought together policymakers, investors, development partners and entrepreneurs to discuss intra-African trade, industrialisation, private-sector growth and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Asfour said small and medium-sized enterprises, women and young people needed greater involvement in policy decisions and Africa\u2019s industrial development.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Africa Business Council\u2019s strategy rests on strengthening businesses, advocating supportive policies and developing value-added products.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
African companies require financing, technology, skilled workers, reliable energy, infrastructure, certification and harmonised regulations to compete effectively, Asfour said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery country cannot industrialise everything,\u201d Asfour said. \u201cWe have to build on the resources present in each country and the expertise available across the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Regional value chains could allow countries to manufacture different components before assembling final products within Africa.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Asfour also called for at least 30% of government procurement to be allocated to small businesses, including enterprises owned by women and young people.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Africa should shift women\u2019s economic participation from basic trading towards processing and manufacturing, particularly in agriculture.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Asfour cited opportunities in shea butter and cocoa, where African countries export raw commodities but capture only a small part of the value generated by finished products.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Growing global demand for critical minerals provides another opportunity for industrialisation. \u201cIf we talk about lithium, who is going to industrialise the lithium batteries?\u201d Asfour said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
African countries should map mineral resources, identify financing and technology requirements and establish regional industrial parks capable of processing copper, cobalt, lithium and iron ore.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
External investment should support equal partnerships, employment, value addition, skills development and technology transfer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have finance on the continent. We have technology on the continent,\u201d Asfour said. \u201cNo more exploitation of our raw materials.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Asfour said geopolitical disruptions had increased awareness that Africa needed stronger domestic industries and reduced dependence on imported products.
\n–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44791,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-47619","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and build regional industries capable of creating jobs, transferring technology and producing competitive goods, the Africa Business Council says.","published_date":"","news_description":"Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and build regional industries capable of creating jobs, transferring technology and producing competitive goods, the Africa Business Council says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47620,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47619\/revisions\/47620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}