The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is seeking to use its investment and intellectual-property rules to make it easier for African companies to raise capital, protect innovations and expand across national borders, according to Gilberto Antonio, chief technical adviser at the AfCFTA Secretariat.
The investment and intellectual-property protocols are designed to complement the bloc’s digital trade framework by addressing two key requirements for businesses seeking to expand across Africa: access to capital and protection of their ideas, brands and products.
The three areas are interconnected, Antonio said, giving the example of a Ghanaian small business developing a digital-payment platform. Such a company would need a legal framework to deploy its service across Africa, intellectual-property protection for its innovation and capital to finance expansion.
The AfCFTA investment protocol is intended to facilitate intra-African investment and attract investment that supports sustainable development, Antonio said. He noted that much of the continent’s investment currently comes from outside Africa, while foreign investors can sometimes receive more preferential treatment under existing agreements between African countries and external partners.
A more predictable investment regime could encourage companies and investors to expand their operations, particularly as businesses require additional capital to increase production or manufacturing capacity, he said.
“If you want to increase the size of your company, if you want to increase the volume of products that either you are selling or you are manufacturing, you need investment,” Antonio said.
The investment protocol does not target one specific industry but seeks to attract responsible and sustainable investment. Areas identified as having significant opportunities include infrastructure, logistics, agro-processing and pharmaceuticals.
Intellectual-property protection is similarly important as African businesses seek to commercialize and scale innovations across the continent.
Antonio said the AfCFTA intellectual-property protocol is a comprehensive, binding framework covering patents, trademarks and traditional and folkloric knowledge. The protocol also reflects African positions in international intellectual-property discussions.
The framework is intended to move toward a unified intellectual-property regime, reducing the need for businesses seeking to expand across Africa to navigate separate national systems for protecting their innovations.
For entrepreneurs, Antonio said intellectual-property protection should be considered early when establishing a business because a company’s name, logo and brand can influence how consumers identify its products.
He said a continent-wide IP regime would allow African companies to scale and build recognition across markets while providing protection against unauthorized replication.
The investment and intellectual-property frameworks therefore form part of the wider AfCFTA effort to increase intra-African trade by creating conditions in which companies can develop, finance, protect and expand their businesses across national markets.
Antonio said the protocols are intended to work together rather than operate as isolated instruments, with digital trade providing the infrastructure for transactions, investment supporting business expansion and intellectual-property rules protecting the innovations and brands that underpin those businesses.
