First Vice President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), Victoria Hajar, has urged her members to take full advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in the coming year, 2022.

According to her, this year has been challenging especially with businesses struggling due to the pandemic. Victoria Hajar noted that in light of this, there is the need for members to adapt to new ways of doing business particularly using e-platforms.

Speaking at the end-of-year open forum and networking by Tema Regional branch of the Chamber, she explained that industries are already losing out due to the impact of Covid-19, however, they can make some gains when AfCFTA platform is fully utilized.

“For the fact that 35% of our revenue base was netted off, we had 65% left to do all the things we were supposed to, including protecting and helping our businesses… We’re hoping that our companies will take the opportunity when AfCFTA becomes buoyant having prepared this year would help to boost revenues, do much more for them and help reach out to other SMEs, preparing them against future attacks”.

Commenting on the challenges of the Chamber, Madam Hajar revealed that the Chamber has had its fair share of the challenges which has affected participation of members.

Expectations for AfCFTA in 2022

On his part, the Tema Regional Vice Chair of Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cosmos Bondzie, expressed the need for members to engage in capacity building and getting members on track as extremely important in 2022.

He believes these areas among others will assist members access financial support, making it urgent to train SMEs in that area and making maximum use of money.

“We could do this by collecting and collating information from them. For capacity building, we are looking at management, bookkeeping, customer service, e-commerce, etc”.
Mr Cosmos Bondzie

The Tema region has made it clear to members that doing business has evolved and the need to factor in Business to Business (B2B), knowing their competitors as well as client and potential client to help grow and impact the economy positively.

Some participants who were at the forum shared their view. Francisca Engmann of Shotto Logistics, indicated that the Chamber has a lot to offer but members have to play their roles through networking.

“For instance, the Chamber has consultants on taxation, auditing and other areas of importance and if Shotto Logistics needs a consultant, getting one wouldn’t be that stressful”.
Francisca Engmann

Publisher, Michael Caesar, on the other hand wants meetings in 2022 to be based on needs of members and not otherwise. He expressed optimism that members will acquire knowledge and skills needed in their day-to-day operations aside solutions to navigate current challenges to make meaningful gains next year.

“From the interaction, the Chamber has a broad idea of what it wants to be done but members are asking for the framework to make input to reflect our needs and this can determine the type of resource persons need to engage”.
Michael Caesar

Despite the slow start, AfCFTA, is considered one giant step, creating the world’s largest unified market with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of more than $ 3 trillion and a population of over 1.3 billion people.