“The AfCFTA will only materialize if businesses know how to access markets”

Alka Bhatia, UNDP Resident Representative for Mauritius and Seychelles

For Mauritius to take advantage of the AfCFTA, action is needed to enable women entrepreneurs to seize the different ways to penetrate the African market. This is what the UNDP is striving to do, says Alka Bhatia, UNDP Resident Representative for Mauritius and Seychelles, through five pathways encompassing organised sector clusters, digital trade, access to finance, inclusive trade facilitation, and opening the door to real markets.

The AfCFTA, for Alka Bhatia, UNDP Resident Representative for Mauritius and Seychelles, is more than just a trade agreement. It is a platform to connect entrepreneurs to a continental market, build new value chains, and place women-led enterprises at the centre of inclusive growth. 

Speaking at the workshop on Unlocking AfCFTA Opportunities for Women-Led Businesses in African Markets, she explained that the UNDP is at the forefront of supporting Mauritius in transforming this opportunity into concrete actions. 

 

“Finance must be designed around women’s growth journeys.”

 

“Since 2021, this support has included national consultations on the AfCFTA women in trade protocol, contributions to the national strategy and costed action plan for women entrepreneurship development, export readiness training for women entrepreneurs, including in Rodrigues, and, most recently, the export accelerator program with the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry,” highlighted Alka Bhatia. 

Together, these initiatives have supported 80 women-led SMEs from Mauritius to strengthen market readiness, business positioning, and regional connections.

In the same vein, during the two days of the workshop, the participants examined market intelligence, rules of origin, customs procedures, financing and payments, logistics, and export strategies. “The objective is clear: to move from awareness to action, and because the AfCFTA will only materialize if businesses know how to access markets, comply with trade rules, and build competitive export strategies,” Alka Bhatia explained.

Five pathways to maximize the opportunity 

To maximize this opportunity, the UNDP Resident Representative for Mauritius and Seychelles unveiled the five pathways that can accelerate women’s participation in intra-African trade.

First, women-led businesses must be supported to move from isolated export efforts to organised sector clusters. “Some of these areas have already been mentioned: agro-processing, sustainable fashion, wellness, digital services, creative industries, and niche manufacturing. By pooling standards, logistics, branding and market access, these clusters can achieve the scale needed to enter regional value chains,” she explained.

Next comes digital trade, which must be treated as an equalizer. E-commerce platforms, digital catalogs, secure payments, and data-driven market intelligence can help women entrepreneurs test demand, reach buyers, and manage cross-border transactions at lower cost and lower risk.

The problem of finance 

As for access to finance, Alka Bhatia concurred with Sanjay Bhunjun, CEO of the EDB, in affirming that it is often cited as a barrier. “So, finance must be designed around women’s growth journeys. Blended finance, export credit guarantees, insurance, and advisory support can help de-risk expansion, while linking capital to mentorship, certification, and buyer connections,” she said.

She also explained that Mauritius can become a test bed for inclusive trade facilitation through women-focused export help desks, customs clinics, simplified rules of origin guidance, shared logistics solutions, and partnerships with standard bodies and freight providers.

These partnerships, ultimately, must open doors to real markets. Connections with buyers, distributors, chambers of commerce, diaspora networks, and innovation hubs – as with the SheTrades and AfCFTA business platforms – should be organized around concrete opportunities so that women-led firms move from training to transactions.

Alka Bhatia concluded by reaffirming that the AfCFTA is not a distant continental framework, but a practical pathway to obtain buyers, better finance, stronger logistics, smarter digital tools, and deeper partnerships for women entrepreneurs. As such, its success will be measured not by the agreements alone, but by the businesses that export, the jobs created, and the communities whose livelihoods are improved. 

“Thus, this workshop actually marks the start of a more ambitious agenda in which women-led businesses in Mauritius are not only prepared to participate in intra-African trade, but equipped to lead, innovate, and shape regional value chains,” she argued.