West African entrepreneurs under the aegis of ECOWAS Small Business Coalition (ESBC) say their collaboration with ECOWAS is crucial to achieving individual, group and subregional economic integration goals.

The entrepreneurs spoke in separate interviews on the sidelines of ESBC’s inaugural exhibition and workshop in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

According to them, collaboration will ensure a positive interface between the ECOWAS body and entrepreneurs towards meeting regional and global standards and practices in their businesses.

Amina Suleiman, CEO of MINALADI Enterprises, a Nigerian fashion designer and manufacturer appointed an ESBC ambassador, said collaboration was their strength.

Sylviane Kone, from Ivory Coast, a former ECOWAS director of human resources and now managing director of AGS Group, an Abidjan-based food processing consultancy firm, stressed the need for entrepreneurs to collaborate.

She said that the essence of ESBC was to facilitate economic integration by harmonising the processing of MSMEs’ goods to produce standard products.

Mahamadou Kinta, CEO of Kinta Enterprises and president of the SMEs coalition in Mali, said the event was an opportunity to bring West African entrepreneurs together to agree on business models that would culminate in growing their economies.

Mr Kinta noted that Mali was facing serious security challenges, which inhibited the free movement of goods and people, stressing that such was inimical to economic integration.

He urged ECOWAS and the African Union to resolve the issues because they could block the process of subregional integration.

Assetou Djibo, an entrepreneur from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, said collaboration among ESBC members was crucial to boosting their economic growth and achieving the objectives of ECOWAS economic integration.

Ebiekure Eradiri, president of the All Africa Association of MSMEs, said standardising MSME products by ensuring that they are “concurrent, uniform and acceptable” across the subregion was key to the ESBC’s success.

Loido Monteiro from Cape Verde, CEO of Smart Cities Project and ESBC Vice President, said the coalition aimed to collaborate to bring their products to new markets within ECOWAS and the world.

She said that through partnerships with other companies, they would grow their markets and companies, create jobs and produce ECOWAS’ future millionaires.

(NAN)