Lagos: Ms. Margaret Ansei, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), has called for increased investment in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the continent as a strategic pathway to unlock the vast potential of intra-African trade and tourism.
According to Ghana News Agency, speaking at the Ghana International Expo and Investment Forum 2025 in Lagos, Nigeria, Ms. Ansei emphasized the theme for this year’s event, ‘Unlocking Investment Potentials through Intra-Africa Trade and Tourism,’ as an urgent call for action and collaboration to reposition African economies for sustainable growth. She highlighted that MSMEs are vital to the economy, employing over 80 percent of the population and significantly contributing to the GDP.
Ms. Ansei noted that although MSMEs are crucial to Ghana and Africa’s economic structure, they face systemic challenges such as limited access to finance, fragmented markets, and insufficient visibility. She explained that the GEA is implementing various interventions to eliminate these barriers and empower entrepreneurs, particularly women, youth, and persons with disabilities.
She also discussed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), headquartered in Accra, which has the potential to integrate Africa’s economies, boost intra-African trade by over 50 percent, and provide businesses access to a market of over 1.4 billion people. Ms. Ansei emphasized that AfCFTA is about people and shared stories like that of Beauty Secrets by Nard, a woman-led MSME exporting organic products internationally.
Ms. Ansei highlighted the role of tourism as a catalyst for commerce, culture, and investment, citing the ‘December in Ghana’ initiative as a significant income booster for small-scale artisans, tour operators, and hospitality providers. She explained that strategically linking tourism with trade offers vast potential to scale MSMEs beyond local borders and deepen regional value chains.
She also outlined the GEA’s BizBox Project, a flagship initiative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, aiming to create 250,000 dignified jobs, focusing on women, young girls, and persons with disabilities. Through BizBox, the GEA is providing skills, access to markets, and opening doors for regional trade and cross-border opportunities.
Ms. Ansei identified three critical pillars to unlocking Africa’s trade and tourism investment potential: partnerships, market access, and inclusive growth. She emphasized that Africa is not a continent of scarcity but of coordination challenges, suggesting that with deliberate efforts, MSMEs could become engines of job creation, innovation, and wealth across the continent.
She urged stakeholders to support the vision of a prosperous Africa powered by empowered entrepreneurs, integrated markets, and vibrant tourism, stating that through trade and tourism, supported by vibrant MSMEs, economies can be transformed, poverty reduced, and the next generation inspired with hope and opportunity.
The GIEIF 2025 gathered policymakers, investors, business leaders, and development partners from across the continent and beyond to explore opportunities for economic collaboration under the AfCFTA framework. The event also featured an exhibition of Made in Ghana products and services, including shea butter, Kente cloths, and local fabrics, with exhibitors sponsored by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and the GEA.