Chief Executive Officer of Pan-African Women Empowerment Network (PANWEN), Madam Vinolia Emma Zigah, says African women, youth and persons with disability must not only participate in the African economy but be given the opportunity to lead and trade beyond borders.
Speaking at the official launch of the African Export Network on Friday, Madam Zigah said the initiative is more than an organisation, but the beginning of a continental movement built on belief in inclusive trade.
“Today is more than a launch of an organization; it is a beginning of a continental movement, a movement built on belief. African women, youths, persons with disability must not only participate in African economy. They must have the opportunity to lead and trade beyond borders,” she said.
She noted that across Africa, women and young people are farming, manufacturing, processing, creating, innovating and building businesses, while persons with disabilities continue to demonstrate talent, creativity, entrepreneurship and resilience, yet they still face significant barriers.
“Yet they still face barriers of finance, markets, technology, skills, certification, export information, and business networks. We have entrepreneurs with great quality products, farmers producing valued raw materials, manufacturers producing and ready to scale, yet they face challenges – often not of potential, the challenge is access,” she stated.
According to her, PANWEN was created to help bridge that gap.
“Our goal is simple: creating African entrepreneurs, opportunity connects African markets to businesses. Our vision is to build a powerful and inclusive continental trade, connecting African women, youth, people with disability, producers, markets, finance partners, and international opportunity,” she explained.
She said PANWEN’s mission is to empower African women, youth and people with disability to build sustainable, competitive and investment-ready businesses that can participate meaningfully in AfCFTA trade.
“Our mission is to empower African women and people with disability to build sustainable, competitive and investment-ready businesses, participating meaningfully in AfCFTA trade, create jobs, and build African brands beyond the marketplace. We do not want people to simply start businesses. We want them to build businesses that can grow, scale, employ, and export,” she said.
Madam Zigah outlined five priority areas for the network: access to market, export readiness, finance and investment, capacity building, and continental networking.
She stressed that while the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents numerous opportunities, having a market is not enough without the right support systems.
“Our continental trade agenda is the African Continental Free Trade Area presents numerous opportunity, but having a market is not enough. Our entrepreneurs need knowledge, finance, quality standards, technology, buyers, logistics, and partners to access that market. PANWEN therefore seeks to become a practical bridge between African business and regional and international trade opportunity,” she noted.
“We want women in Ghana to find a buyer in Kenya, a young manufacturer in Nigeria to find a distributor in Cote d’Ivoire, a farmer produce in The Gambia to find markets in other African markets, a person with disability who has built a business to access funding, technology and markets to grow. We want African brands to move from local markets to markets across the continent and beyond,” she added.
She concluded with a call for collective action for inclusive trade.
“Empowering African women to trade beyond borders. Together we rise. Together we trade. Together we build an inclusive African market,” she said.
The launch was attended by members of the diplomatic community, development partners, CEOs, business leaders, young entrepreneurs, persons with disability, farmers, manufacturers, processors, exporters, exhibitors and other stakeholders.
