The International Women's Entrepreneurship Fair leverages on AfCFTA
Within the framework of its efforts to fully explore the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the High Council of the Economic Commission for Central African States (ECCAS), in partnership with the Ladies Business Forum (LBF), organised the very first edition of the International Women's Entrepreneurship Fair (Saief) in Douala on 3 October, under the theme: "African women entrepreneurs and the challenges of industrialisation within the framework of the AfCFTA and post-Covid economic recovery".
This platform gives visibility to the actions carried out by women on a daily basis, with the aim of encouraging the women of Central Africa to become more autonomous and to promote entrepreneurship, given that 80% of those involved in cross-border trade are women, explained ECCAS representative Mrs. Yvette KAPINGA NGANDU.
The LBF Association President and Fair Coordinator, Elysée Bogning DEUMANY and Léonie Michelle NDOME MOUKOKO, her Cameroonian counterpart in the organisation, urged women to overcome all obstacles to access funding, by leveraging on the AfCFTA market, a view shared by Mrs Léa DOUMTA, Central African Minister for Trade and Industry.
The event was attended by Mr Achille Basilekin III, Cameroon's Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (MINPMEESA), who in his speech reassured the women of the government's unfailing commitment to mobilise more than a billion people to offer them all the opportunities that can help them to be more autonomous in their activities and thus contribute to the development of our country.
(Source: Summary of Cameroon Tribune No. 12951 of Thursday 05 October 2023)