Podcast: What does Africa’s business community think of the AfCFTA?

With the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) closer than ever to becoming a reality, the results of Oxford Business Group’s Business Barometer in Africa have shown that the continent’s business community is upbeat about the deal, with the largest majority of the survey respondents saying it will have a positive or very positive impact on intra-regional levels.

Oliver Cornock, Oxford Business Group’s Editor-in-Chief, is joined in this podcast by Souhir Mzali, the company’s Regional Editor for Africa, to discuss the implications of the deal and survey results.

Mzali explains some of the reasons driving optimism among business leaders and investors in Africa and highlights the key challenges that will need to be addressed to allow initiatives such as the AfCFTA to come to fruition.

Africa has much to offer especially when it comes to human resources with an estimated 60% of its population under the age of 24. Cornock and Mzali discuss the different steps that need to be taken in order to generate the required employment for the continent’s increasingly growing labour pool and the role digital transformation will play in shaping the jobs of tomorrow.