The Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), Sidig Faroug El Toum, has revealed that women own or operate approximately 58 percent of all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa, describing them as central to the continent’s economic transformation.
El Toum made the disclosure on Thursday, 5th February 2026, during his welcome address at the SME Scale-Up Dialogue on the second day of the Africa Prosperity Dialogue (APD) 2026, held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC). The event brought together policymakers, industry leaders, development partners, financiers, entrepreneurs, and youth representatives to discuss strategies for advancing Africa’s single market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
APD 2026, running from 4th to 6th February under the theme “Empowering SMEs, Women and Youth in Africa’s Single Market: Innovate. Collaborate. Trade,” has convened heads of state, business leaders, innovators, and civil society representatives to address intra-African trade, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment.
El Toum emphasized that Africa’s SME sector is shaped by both women entrepreneurs and young business owners, reflecting the continent’s youthful demographic. He noted that young people represent nearly 60 percent of Africa’s population and are increasingly becoming key drivers of entrepreneurship, with 65 percent of startup founders across the continent under the age of 30.
The combination of women-led and youth-driven enterprises makes SMEs the most important economic actor in determining whether AfCFTA succeeds or fails, according to El Toum.
SMEs account for more than 90 percent of businesses on the continent and employ the majority of the workforce, the APN CEO stated. He described SMEs as transformation agents carrying the innovation, resilience, and ambition Africa needs to compete globally.
El Toum stressed that empowering SMEs, especially women-led enterprises, is essential to building a thriving and integrated African single market.
Despite their enormous contribution, SMEs continue to face deep structural challenges, including limited access to affordable finance, fragmented trade systems, border restrictions, and weak infrastructure, El Toum acknowledged. He argued that unless these constraints are addressed, Africa’s vision of a prosperous continental free trade area may remain unrealized.
The SME Scale-Up Dialogue is designed as a practical problem-solving platform where regulators, financiers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers can confront challenges and develop actionable outcomes, El Toum explained. Key focus areas include scalable financing models, interoperable payment systems, value chain integration, logistics improvements, and tools to enable SMEs to trade confidently across borders.
El Toum highlighted a shift in Africa’s development thinking, stressing that prosperity cannot be delivered by governments alone or built solely by large corporations. He insisted that SMEs must be placed at the center of Africa’s single market agenda not as beneficiaries, but as partners driving the continent’s economic integration.
The APN CEO urged participants to approach the dialogue with practicality, collaboration, and boldness, noting that Africa’s single market requires courage, investment, and trust across borders.
