By Aldridge Dzvene
The call by the President of Concord For Young Women in Business Apphia Nyasha Musavengana for African women to take a leading role in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is more than a motivational appeal. It is a strategic economic proposition that touches on one of the most underutilized assets in Africa’s quest for industrialization, regional integration, and sustainable economic growth.
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Book NowFor decades, discussions about Africa’s economic transformation have largely revolved around infrastructure development, industrial capacity, mineral beneficiation, foreign direct investment, and trade policy reforms. While these remain important pillars, one critical factor has often received insufficient attention: the immense economic power represented by African women.
Across the continent, women constitute the backbone of informal trade, agriculture, small-scale manufacturing, and cross-border commerce. They dominate markets, drive household economies, sustain agricultural value chains, and contribute significantly to national productivity. Yet despite this undeniable contribution, many remain confined to the lowest levels of economic participation, often operating at subsistence level while larger opportunities within regional and international trade remain inaccessible.
The AfCFTA presents an opportunity to fundamentally alter this reality.
The continental trade agreement was conceived to create a single African market capable of accelerating intra-African trade, reducing dependency on external markets, strengthening regional value chains, and stimulating industrial development. However, the true measure of AfCFTA’s success will not be determined solely by tariff reductions or trade protocols. Its effectiveness will be judged by its ability to transform ordinary Africans into active participants in continental commerce.
In this regard, women represent perhaps the greatest reservoir of untapped economic potential.
Historically, African economies have exported raw materials while importing finished products. This pattern has perpetuated dependency, limited industrial growth, and constrained wealth creation. Women entrepreneurs have often found themselves concentrated in low-value sectors where profit margins remain thin and growth opportunities limited.
Musavengana’s challenge therefore speaks directly to the need for women to move beyond survival entrepreneurship towards value-added production, manufacturing, and participation in regional supply chains.
The future of African trade will not be won through the export of raw commodities alone. It will be driven by enterprises capable of processing agricultural products, manufacturing consumer goods, developing innovative technologies, and creating brands that can compete across the continent. Women-owned enterprises have the potential to become central players in this transformation.
For Zimbabwe, the implications are particularly significant.
The country’s economic modernization agenda places considerable emphasis on industrialization, beneficiation, rural industrial development, and export growth. Women already dominate sectors such as agriculture, horticulture, food processing, retail trade, textiles, and micro-enterprises. If these sectors are effectively integrated into AfCFTA value chains, they could become powerful engines of export growth.
Consider the opportunities available within agro-processing alone. Zimbabwean women involved in farming could transition from simply selling raw produce to supplying processed foods, packaged agricultural products, organic products, herbal goods, and other value-added commodities to regional markets. Such a shift would not only increase incomes but also strengthen domestic industrial capacity.
The challenge, however, extends beyond production.
One of the most important barriers confronting women entrepreneurs across Africa remains access to finance. Continental trade opportunities are of little value if businesses cannot secure capital to expand production, acquire equipment, meet quality standards, or fulfill large orders.
Financial inclusion therefore becomes a strategic necessity rather than a social intervention.
Banks, development finance institutions, governments, and private investors must begin viewing women-owned enterprises not as beneficiaries of empowerment programs but as investable businesses capable of generating significant economic returns.
Similarly, access to information remains a major obstacle. Many small businesses remain unaware of the opportunities available under AfCFTA, including market requirements, export procedures, product standards, logistics networks, and financing mechanisms. Without deliberate efforts to bridge this information gap, the benefits of continental integration risk being captured by a small number of established corporations while grassroots entrepreneurs remain excluded.
The digital revolution introduces another important dimension.
Technology is increasingly becoming the bridge between local production and continental markets. Digital marketplaces, mobile payment systems, e-commerce platforms, and online marketing tools have the potential to eliminate many traditional barriers to market access. Women entrepreneurs who embrace digital transformation may find themselves competing far beyond their local communities, reaching consumers across multiple African markets.
This intersection between digital innovation and continental trade could prove to be one of the defining economic developments of the coming decade.
Beyond economics, there is also a broader developmental significance to women’s participation in AfCFTA.
Research consistently demonstrates that when women experience increased incomes, benefits extend beyond individual households. Improved access to education, healthcare, nutrition, and community development often follows. Consequently, empowering women within continental trade ecosystems has multiplier effects that contribute to broader national development objectives.
This makes women’s participation not merely a gender issue but a development imperative.
The success of AfCFTA will ultimately depend on whether Africa can mobilize all its productive capacities. Excluding or underutilizing women would mean sidelining a substantial portion of the continent’s entrepreneurial energy, creativity, and economic potential.
Musavengana’s remarks therefore arrive at a critical moment in Africa’s economic journey. As countries seek to accelerate industrialization and strengthen regional integration, the question is no longer whether women should participate in continental trade. The question is whether Africa can achieve its ambitious economic aspirations without women leading from the front.
The evidence increasingly suggests that it cannot.
If AfCFTA is to become the transformative instrument envisioned by African leaders, women must move from the margins of trade to the centre of economic decision-making, production, innovation, and continental commerce. In doing so, they will not merely benefit from Africa’s economic transformation; they will become among its principal architects.
