Unity Makes Strength: West Africa launches drive to boost SMEs and open markets

By Dawda Baldeh

West African leaders and development partners launched the Africa Trade Competitiveness and Market Access (ATCMA) ECOWAS Programme in Banjul on Friday, unveiling a regional push to strengthen trade, improve market access and create opportunities for millions by empowering small businesses, farmers and traders.

The first Strategic Steering Committee meeting brought together ECOWAS officials, the European Union, development agencies and private‑sector representatives to tackle barriers that hold back firms — limited access to finance, complex trade procedures and poor market information — and to translate regional integration into tangible benefits for ordinary citizens.

Escipión Oliveira‑Gómez, Director, Division of Country Programmes at the International Trade Centre, said the programme is “ultimately about people.” He told delegates: “The best way of supporting sustainable development is by empowering SMEs and teaching people how to fish rather than giving them fish.”

He added: “He who finds a friend finds a treasure. The treasure we are celebrating today is the partnership between ECOWAS, the European Union and development institutions working together to empower the private sector.”

UNIDO programme manager Bernard Bau pointed to practical gains from earlier projects, citing support for The Gambia’s onion value chain, where farmers improved productivity, storage and market access. “Trade opportunities can only be realised if enterprises can produce competitive products that meet international standards,” he said.

A major focus of the initiative will be women, youth and micro‑enterprises, organisers said, with targeted support intended to turn economic growth into jobs and improved livelihoods across the region. Delegates repeatedly stressed that no single institution can drive the transformation alone and called for close collaboration between governments, donors and the private sector.

Closing the meeting, organisers reiterated the programme’s wider promise: regional cooperation that delivers real opportunities. Bernard Bau left participants with a rallying call: “Unity makes strength. Let us work together for a better future for West Africa and for the children who will inherit it.”