The Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to positioning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), women, and young people at the centre of Africa’s single market agenda under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
She made this known while delivering the keynote address on Day Two of the 2026 Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on Tuesday, February 4, 2026, under the theme: “Empowering SMEs, Women & Youth in Africa’s Single Market: Innovate. Collaborate. Trade.”
According to the Minister, since trading officially commenced under the AfCFTA in January 2021, Africa has recorded steady progress, including nearly 50 ratifications, expanded participation in the Guided Trade Initiative, and the adoption of the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade. She described the protocol as a binding commitment to dismantle structural barriers and expand access to finance, skills development, digital trade, and regional value chains.
Hon. Ofosu-Adjare said Ghana, under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama, is translating AfCFTA ambitions into concrete national action through value addition, industrial expansion, and export growth, with women’s empowerment integrated across all pillars.
She noted that the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, in collaboration with the Ghana Enterprises Agency and other partners, is strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as engines of job creation, export growth, and industrial transformation.
“MSMEs account for over 90 per cent of businesses and the majority of employment across Africa. In Ghana, women lead nearly half of MSMEs, while our youthful population represents an unparalleled source of innovation and productivity. Empowering these groups is an economic imperative,” she stated.
The Minister highlighted the untapped potential in commodities such as cocoa, shea, cashew, and honey, stressing the need for Ghana and Africa to move beyond exporting raw materials to higher-value processing. She explained that this objective has informed the expansion of her Ministry’s mandate to include agribusiness and the rollout of the Feed the Industry Programme, aimed at ensuring reliable and sustainable raw material supply to domestic industries.
She added that Ghana is deliberately integrating women into trade, agribusiness, and industrial value chains, with special emphasis on agro-processing and export readiness. Recent interventions, she said, have increased participation of women-, youth-, and disability-led enterprises in cross-border trade, with more than 2,800 businesses sensitised on export procedures and market access.
Nationwide enterprise development programmes have also equipped over 155,000 entrepreneurs with business skills, supported more than 6,000 start-ups, and improved access to finance, particularly for women- and youth-led MSMEs. Additionally, grant and financing mechanisms under the World Bank-backed Ghana Economic Transformation Project have been activated to support firm upgrading and private investment.
Hon. Ofosu-Adjare outlined four key priorities for unlocking Africa’s trade and industrial potential: full operationalisation of the AfCFTA, including completion of Rules of Origin and expansion of the Guided Trade Initiative; increased investment in digital infrastructure, energy, transport, and payment systems; innovative financing solutions beyond collateral-based lending; and strong public-private and cross-border partnerships.
Despite acknowledging challenges such as financing gaps, skills mismatch, and infrastructure deficits, she assured that Ghana remains committed to accelerating AfCFTA protocol implementation, scaling export-readiness programmes, and fostering inclusive industrialisation.
She urged stakeholders to leave Accra with concrete commitments to invest in women- and youth-led SMEs, prioritise value addition using digital and artificial intelligence tools, remove remaining trade barriers, and deepen cross-border collaboration.
“Together, we will build a single African market where SMEs, women, and youth drive sustainable prosperity, job creation, and structural transformation,” she said.
