As the enthusiasm occasioned by the recent progress made by the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) which saw the shipment of goods from Kenya and Uganda to Ghana continues to spread like wild harmattan fire, I caught up with one of the champions of African youth and women’s involvement in trade, Mr. Precious Di Phiri. Mr Phiri is a Malawian entrepreneur with investment portfolios spanning organic foods and natural sustainable alternatives. He made known his views on a wide range of issues. 

Adebayo Abubakar: Could you please introduce yourself?

Precious Di Phiri: My name is Precious Di-Phiri. I am a youth entrepreneur from Lilongwe, Malawi. I am the Co-Founder of AWAWO, a sustainable product brand using bamboo and other natural sustainable alternatives. I am also the founder of Milli Foods through which we make organic tea, and other healthy foods. I am the YE (Youth Entrepreneurs) adviser to the International Trade Centre in Malawi. YE is a community of Youth Entrepreneurs across the world. 

Adebayo Abubakar: As an entrepreneur, in what light do you see the AfCFTA?

Precious Di Phiri: Well, I see the agreement as a tool for endless opportunities for youths and women in Malawi and in Africa. This is exciting because it allows us to trade beyond the artificial borders and new markets will be opened for youths and women in trade. I see the AfCFTA as a gateway to Africa’s prosperity and development and believe this will attract investment, boost trade, provide jobs, and reduce youth  unemployment.

Adebayo Abubakar: How has the AfCFTA affected your business?

Precious Di Phiri: The AfCFTA has affected my business in so many ways. We realised in 2021 that this is of so much interest to our business. As a small business we tried to look at the challenges for the export market and we started addressing issues that have to do with quality. Obviously, when you’re entering into a new market, you need to make sure that your products are of a high quality that would be able to compete in the new market. But, we also look at the issue of capacity. When entering a new market, you need to increase your capacity to trade in those markets. So, those are some of the issues we are tackling as a business. We also realize that if we are to adequately be involved in export business, we must have a strategy, and we’ve crafted an export strategy, and so far, we are improving on that. Meanwhile, we have exported some of our products to South Africa, Tanzania, and Greece. I think that that is the result of our zeal to export in Africa as an SME (Small-Medium Enterprise). 

Adebayo Abubakar: If you have not been involved in exporting goods already, under the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) of AfCFTA, which part of the continent are you targeting as your prospective market?

Precious Di Phiri: We haven’t exported under the framework of the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) of the AfCFTA. But we are targeting South Africa, which is actually a good market for our interior products, our teas, and other healthy foods that we produce. We’re also targeting Tanzania, Kenya, as well as Nigeria. 

Adebayo Abubakar: Can you describe the feelings, among your fellow Malawian entrepreneurs, towards the AfCFTA?

Precious Di Phiri: The feelings among my fellow Malawian entrepreneurs towards the AfCFTA are quite encouraging. Most of the businesses that I have interacted with have been trading domestically. So, now, they’re looking at how they can position themselves to be able to export through Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the AfCFTA; as well as making sure they improve their products and upscale the capacity of their businesses. 

Another challenge is that unlike in other countries, there is a challenge of lack of information about the AfCFTA in Malawi among the youth and the women. So, what we are doing as the YE Community in Malawi is to sensitize  youth entrepreneurs about the AfCFTA on how they can make their products export-ready which is quite crucial for their growth, both domestically, and across the borders of Malawi.

Adebayo Abubakar: How involved is the Malawian government in the AfCFTA? 

Precious Di Phiri: Malawi is a signatory to the AfCFTA and in 2021, she ratified the agreement. The vision is to expand the export market share beyond RECs. Malawi has also been able to look into different policies with many stakeholders and governments in order to make sure that policies are favorable for SMEs in the export market under the AfCFTA. 

Adebayo Abubakar: Are you impressed by such involvement?

Precious Di Phiri: Well, I can say that the ratification and looking into new policies are very good things. But I can also say I am not impressed on other fronts. For instance, Malawi has an agro-based economy, with the agricultural sector accounting for 35.5% of the GDP. This accounts for 82.5% of foreign exchange earnings. Now, manufacturing accounts for only 11% of the GDP. We’re lacking on the industrial front. It is very small and we have to do something about it. As much as we are doing good in terms of policies, we need to initiate industrial drive, and youth-led initiatives in agriculture, financial technology, ICT, and in the creative industry. If we do have an increase in the industrial drive, we would be able to fully benefit from the AfCFTA, encourage investment in these sectors, and also be able to grow the economy which is actually very crucial. So, that is my take on industrial growth. 

Adebayo Abubakar: If no, what is your advice to the government?

Well, for women and youths to actively participate in the export market within the framework of AfCFTA, we need the Malawian government to lay out the basic infrastructure. In Malawi, for instance, only 11% of the population has access to electricity. And we have been having intermittent power outages. And this discourages industrialization . It is not good for women and youths in trade. It reduces their output and if we do have the improved infrastructure – electricity, it is very good because, it will encourage a lot of youths to participate in trade through manufacturing their goods, and add value, and it will also encourage investment in various industries in the manufacturing sector.

Adebayo Abubakar: Thank you for your time, Precious.

Precious Di Phiri: it’s my pleasure.

Adebayo Abubakar is a Nigerian writer. You can reach him via email, marxbayour@gmail.com