Kiwanga, a small trading center in Mukono town is where Fred Isiko operates a mini-supermarket, trading in a range of products including farm produce. A close scrutiny of many of these products, however, bear labels indicating their country of origins as; China, India, Pakistan but very few from Uganda or even Africa.

My curiosity was driven to the cereals, particularly puffed rice which has become a staple food for many families in Uganda. In the supermarket, Isiko stocks large quantities of basmati rice, and pakistani rice but only a small fraction of Ugandan super rice.

“There is a big demand for basmati and Pakistani rice”, was his response, when asked why? “Ugandan rice has stones in it and people have no time to sort it”, he added.

What Isiko does not know, is that he has not taken time to find out the impact these basmati and Pakistani rice are having on the local economy of Uganda and by him choosing to support the growth of rice growing farmers and factories from other countries, he is increasing the misery of local producers, affecting job creation and certainly taxes to government.

But imagine a situation where Africans buy Africa products thereby helping to build Africa? That will mean all the money, jobs and taxes paid to other countries will certainly remain on the continent and help spur intracontinental investment, growth on the continent.

This is the spirit behind the newly signed trade agreement better known as The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), that all African countries ratified except, Eritrea, a year ago.

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African economies have a combined Gross Domestic Product of $3.4 trillion, but sadly trades internally at 14 per cent and the rest of the trade is with Europe, Asia and America.

At this year’s Kampala Strategic Leader’s Summit, Human Capital International has decided to prioritise AfCFTA at a round table policy dialogue. We have assembled the best critical minds consisting of technocrats, customs officials and experts in business and continental trade experts to discuss the appropriate policy frameworks required to spur growth and build capacities of SMEs to fully participate in the agreement and expand businesses in Africa thereby creating wealth for Africans.

So, what are the key issues in AfCFTA and how will they affect SMEs in Uganda and within the East African Community? How will it affect trade, employment creation, and consumption patterns on the continent? The agreement has seven specific purposes aimed at easing intracontinental trade.

Among the objectives are initiatives to eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers that have hindered intracontinental trade and movement of people and goods for centuries, liberalise trade in services and progressively cooperate on investments, intellectual property rights and competition policy and cooperate on all trade-related areas.

Other objectives of the agreement are enabling African countries to cooperate on customs, establish a mechanism for the settlement of disputes concerning members’ rights and maintain an institutional framework for the implementation and administration of the AfCFTA.

Mr Gideon Badagawa, the Executive Director of Private Sector Foundation Uganda, and one of the Summit panellists said in a pre-Summit interview that AfCFTA is the best thing to have happened to Africa.

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“As of now, Africa trades more with other countries, however unfairly (trade balance) than within the continent,” Mr Badagawa said.

“We need this kind of agreement that enables entrepreneurs and SMEs to have access to a bigger African market than it is now,” he says.

Africa is home to 1.2 billion people and still growing and encouraging internal trade will enable the continent develop African solutions to African problems, he adds.

An International Monetary Fund working research paper done in 2018, indicates that if the continental agreement is well implemented, intraregional trade is expected to expand by about 82 percent and at worst scenario, 78 percent.

The same report indicates that the agreement will reduce non-tariff barriers by at least 35 per cent. This, Mr Badagawa says, will bolster trade on the continent immensely.

How will your business and SMEs benefit from this trade agreement, which sectors of the economy should you be investing your capital in order to attract the needed returns? The Summit is designed specifically to help you get answers to these and more questions.

Register today and be a participate in the round table policy dialogue of the critical minds and get the best ideas and opportunities of the agreement that seeks to change the way we trade and relate with Africans and the rest of the world.