A UNIFIED "Global Africa", with a population of two billion and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$4 trillion, represents an unparalleled economic opportunity, Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah said on Friday.
However, he warned that achieving this potential requires turning the diaspora into a cohesive market and breaking from neo-colonial economic structures.
“As we mark Diaspora Day, we are reminded that the work ahead of us is to use the force of our collective endeavours and knowledge to build a solid economy for ourselves and by ourselves,” Oramah said on the occasion of African Diaspora Day at the ongoing Intra-African Trade Fair in Algeria.
“The opportunity is enormous but has remained latent because we have failed to awaken it.
“With a population of about two billion and an estimated combined GDP of approximately US$4 trillion, an integrated, ring-fenced economy of the people of African descent presents an unparalleled economic opportunity for those within it.”
But to realise the opportunities, Oramah said Africa must turn Global Africa into a cohesive and coherent market.
He said the divide-and-rule strategy that colonialism and neo-colonialism used to "tear us apart" must end.
"We must regain confidence in ourselves and our abilities. We must take deliberate actions to produce within our communities, sell within our communities, and take pride in consuming what is produced within our communities,” he noted.
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For instance, he said people of African descent have produced some of the world's best sprinters, long-distance runners, and footballers.
“Yet, there is no arrangement to harness their talents for economic gains,” Oramah said.
“The result is that we have been sweat labourers while those who control the games and the talents smile to the bank as sweat merchants, getting rich as we get poorer.”
Meanwhile, Afreximbank and its partners on Friday launched the Africa Trade and Distribution Company to ensure that Africans begin to trade what they produce.
