In his capacity as African Union Champion for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization and Productive Transformation, the President of the Republic, Head of State, HE. Mohamed Bazoum, on the sidelines of the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), chaired yesterday by videoconference, the opening of the work of a panel placed under the theme “Empowering start-ups in African LDCs”. In his speech, the Head of State, underlined the importance and the role of Start-ups considered as the engine of structural changes of sustainable economic growth and prosperity for the Least Developed Countries.
(Read below, the integrity of the speech delivered by his HE Mohamed Bazoum).
“Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers,
Ladies and gentlemen technical and financial partners,
Ladies and Gentlemen, to your titles, grades and qualities,
In my capacity as the African Union Champion for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization and Productive Transformation, I would like to take this opportunity to warmly congratulate UNIDO for its remarkable role in launching the Start-ups Initiative for Africa. This initiative notably led to the organization of the 1is West African Start-ups Summit funded by the ECOWAS Commission held from 17 to 22 November 2021 in Niamey, Republic of Niger. This Summit recorded the participation of 55 young Start-ups from 12 ECOWAS Member States who were evaluated by a Jury. Ten (10) Start-ups with innovative ideas/solutions in various fields were selected and awarded.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Start-ups are now seen as driving structural change for sustainable economic growth and prosperity. They play an essential role in the generation of new knowledge, products and services as well as in the development of new markets. They have the potential to grow across geographic boundaries, which explains the role they play in boosting a country’s economy and facilitating integration into the global value chain. Digital technology has played a vital role in catalyzing and crystallizing the growth of start-ups around the world.
Ladies and gentlemen,
However, in African countries they face many obstacles. Indeed, they find it difficult to access capital to develop their activities because they are perceived as high-risk actors, due to their very young age, the limited entrepreneurial experience of their promoters and the low quality of their services. Their limited knowledge of business networks and markets, inaccessibility to investment opportunities, training and necessary information sources are also obstacles faced by start-ups in the ecosystems of most African LDCs.
Despite this, governments have promoted incentives consisting of tax breaks and subsidies that offer start-ups opportunities to improve their activities. To realize the African Vision 2063, the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa, Industry 4.0 and the ECOWAS Vision 2020 on sustainable industrialization for economic growth, it is imperative to continue the establishment, at the level of all countries, of policies aimed at strengthening the productive activities carried out by start-ups and especially by young entrepreneurs. This calls for “urgent action” and support from UNIDO and other technical and financial institutions to provide technical and financial support to African LDCs to strengthen their own innovation ecosystems and thereby create an enabling environment for growth. inclusive economy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I call on African governments and leaders, donor agencies and financial institutions to: provide generous tax breaks to encourage start-ups to launch new ventures; provide support for the regular upgrading of existing start-ups; creating access to funds and making grants available to start-ups; speed up the process of registering start-ups, patenting licenses and creating favorable markets for their products; train young entrepreneurs, provide them with mentors to help them create/boost their own innovative businesses in order to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries; develop policy and legal frameworks on start-ups to stimulate demand for innovation, foster entrepreneurship and grant other benefits to innovative companies; develop an integrated and holistic approach to support structures serving young people who wish to create and develop sustainable businesses and help them improve their livelihoods; create innovation centers and technology hubs to foster partnerships between start-ups, incubators and local and foreign investors.
Ladies and gentlemen,
To achieve inclusive and sustainable industrial development, it is therefore necessary to invest in a growth-oriented private sector driven by start-ups through innovation for socio-economic development. I therefore call on UNIDO, the African Union, BADEA, ITC, regional economic communities, financial institutions, as well as other bilateral and multilateral agencies to take advantage of their regional and global networks and cooperation, to promote start-up initiatives, interventions and models of cooperation, especially in African LDCs. This will strengthen the links between African start-ups, innovators and investors from other parts of the world. It is on this call that I declare open, the side event on the theme “Empowering start-ups in African LDCs” on the sidelines of the 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries.
Thank you for your kind attention”