Bridging Africa’s trade gaps

With the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in the pipeline, Londi Khumalo, managing director of research consultancy Niche Partners, feels this can lead to exciting prospects for the continent’s MICE stakeholders and overall growth.

Together with Meetings and The Planner Guru, Niche Partners is in the process of onboarding regional associations and clients within African MICE to help the industry understand the market on the continent.”

Business research that I conducted in 2017 showed that the leading reasons for conference attendance are networking, learning and trade opportunities. As the African Union’s (AU’s) African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) promises to open up various opportunities across sectors for shared learning, trade and networking, an imperative question for MICE stakeholders on the African continent should be: what are the ways that our industry facilitates this growth?

The AU’s Agenda 2063 “is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future.” According to the AU, this continental strategic framework seeks to stimulate collective and sustainable development on the continent. Agenda 2063 has, most significantly, resulted in the establishment of the AfCFTA, which aims to “create a single market for goods, services, facilitated by movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration of the African continent”. Signed in 2018, it prioritises the removal of barriers to trade across the continent, and the promotion of intracontinental trade among member countries.

The World Bank states that there is great potential to create “the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number of countries participating” – that’s 1.3 billion people across 55 countries, with a combined GDP valued at US$3.4 trillion (R52 trillion) and the potential to reduce the poverty of 30 million people.

A SMALL MARKET WITH HUGE POTENTIAL While an unclear number of regionally rotating meetings take place in Africa, the continent currently holds the smallest share of international association meetings. In addition, there is a major shortfall in data to understand specific opportunities available in the MICE industry in Africa.

Following on from the AU’s vision “to create the Africa we want”, Niche Partners – in collaboration with Meetings and its digital brand extensions, The Planner Guru – has begun sourcing regional data and identifying leading suppliers and clients across the continent who are participating in the creation of an opportunities report, titled African Perspectives on the MICE Industry.

After Niche Partners’ Covid-19 study across Africa on the state of the MICE industry, it is clear that businesses have suffered, and will no doubt continue to do so with challenges such as financial sustainability remaining obstacles to growth. However, from the data, we can

We are calling on our readers to help us bridge the gap within the MICE industry by taking the African Perspectives on the MICE Industry survey. Clients can take the survey here: https://tinyurl.com/y4rzabtl, while suppliers can do so here: https://tinyurl.com/yynsmxex. For more information on how you can be part of our growing partner network, email Londi Khumalo on londi@nichepartners.org or Shanna Jacobsen on shanna.jacobsen@3smedia.co.za.

see that Africa is looking to collaborate and, during Covid-19, this has been a trend across numerous industries and competencies.

In the context of the report, when we look at the comments, collaboration means it is really about sharing resources. This is the key motivation for the direction of the 2021 report. It is clear that in order for African MICE stakeholders to collaborate, work needs to be done to determine our collective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and shared values across the continent. Simply put, there is no collaboration without clear and useful data on the MICE industry in Africa.

RELEVANT PARTIES Both clients and suppliers across the MICE industry are needed to establish effective and impactful data sharing. Therefore, for the next six months, we are in pursuit of partners who will themselves participate in the survey but will also share this with their networks. One such partner is Tes Proos, president for SITE Africa, who says; “The availability of accurate data within the MICE sector has always been lacking in Africa. This became more evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the South African government cited that the travel industry will be last to be permitted to reopen, as it carries the greatest risk and is the lowest contributor to the GDP. It was a great challenge to prove otherwise, especially in the business tourism arena. The impact on the supply chain has been immense and very difficult to quantify. We need to start collecting data as a matter of urgency in order to facilitate quicker responses and better decisionmaking at all levels in future.”

Kezy Mukiri and Mulemwa Moongwa, Africa MICE Summit organisers, are also excited to collaborate on what they see as a pressing need in the challenging climate of Africa. Their annual event this year attracted over 200 attendees and provided a platform for constructive dialogue between stakeholders to promote the growth opportunities available for MICE development in various African countries, as well as explore innovations and showcase ongoing trade and investment opportunities within the continent’s MICE industry.

“Statistics have shown that Africa attracts less than 10% of global MICE business. According to the World Trade Organization, ‘Without the necessary knowledge resources, a destination’s attempt to build, maintain or manage its competitiveness is likely to be limited. The absence of quality data across many sectors in Africa not only limits the continent’s ability to generate a pertinent body of knowledge but also prevents analysts from generating the evidence that policymakers need to make proper decisions in influencing the development of the continent.’ At the Africa MICE Summit, we advocated for the inculcation of a research culture in Africa so as to drive the socio-economic development of the continent. Specifically, through our MICE hub and our partners, such as the African Perspectives on the MICE Industry report, we advocate for the development of a body of knowledge and quality data for Africa’s MICE industry,” notes Kezy.

MAKING INROADS Together with Meetings and The Planner Guru, Niche Partners is in the process of onboarding regional associations and clients within African MICE to help the industry understand the market on the continent. One such association is International Management Assistants, represented in over 30 countries around the world and looking to grow into Africa, with regional president Corrie Fourie expressing his excitement about sharing the survey and helping the industry to understand the value of the association.

Additionally, we have received participation so far from across the continent, with leading insights from South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. We are looking forward to hearing from other regions on the continent who are active in MICE and, of course, building our network as developments such as AfCFTA roll out. This will only further encourage the spirit of collaboration.