BY GCWALISILE MHLABANE
MANZINI– Eswatini’s small businesses could soon have greater opportunities to move beyond the domestic market and compete across Africa as the African Electronic Trade Group (AeTrade Group) strengthens its presence in the Kingdom, focusing on market access, financing, digital inclusion and business growth.
The Pan-African institution is working to support local enterprises, particularly small businesses, women and young entrepreneurs, to become competitive enough to take advantage of opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Speaking during an interview on Eswatini TV’s Market View programme on August 10, 2026, AeTrade Group Chief Executive Officer Mulualem Siyum said businesses needed more than access to a continental market to succeed, as they also required support to improve their productivity, efficiency and understanding of markets.
“The AeTrade Group is a Pan-African institution which primarily engages to support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” Siyum said.
He said the organisation’s work was aimed at ensuring that businesses were not restricted to selling within their local communities or the domestic market, but could progressively expand into regional and continental markets.
“Businesses should not be constrained only in the local market, but they can be able to grow to regional and continental market,” he said.
According to Siyum, this requires a process of “hand-holding” businesses so they can understand what is being produced across Africa, where demand exists and how they can position themselves to compete.
AeTrade has consequently developed an integrated ecosystem intended to support businesses at the local level before connecting them to wider markets.
Agriculture is currently one of the major areas of focus in Eswatini, with AeTrade already partnering with the National Agricultural Marketing Board (NAMBOARD) to strengthen opportunities for local agribusinesses.
Siyum said the partnership was intended to build stronger value chains by helping local producers meet domestic demand and increase production before supplying surplus products to regional and continental markets.
“The very reason of the signing of this agreement is to make in a pragmatic way that how Eswatini’s agrobusinesses can be able to supply first the local market from the input and output, building within the country the value chain, and expanding the production,” he said.
He noted that agriculture had significant potential to contribute to employment and business growth, although AeTrade would eventually extend its work to other sectors.
The organisation is also placing emphasis on women, young people and small enterprises through digital and financial inclusion.
Siyum said entrepreneurs would be supported not only with financing, but also with the knowledge required to operate profitable and competitive businesses.
“It’s not just only financing, but the know-how to do business—how they can be competitive to the regional and continental market,” he said.
He identified business knowledge, productivity, financial literacy, market information and access to finance as some of the major barriers preventing African businesses from fully participating in intra-African trade.
AeTrade intends to address these challenges by connecting businesses to markets and identifying opportunities where products available in one country can meet shortages in another.
Siyum said the organisation was also determined to ensure that agreements signed in Eswatini produced measurable results rather than remaining commitments on paper.
“One of the uniqueness of AeTrade agreement signed is not just only signing an MOU for the paper, but there is behind it an action plan,” he said.
The action plans will have time-bound targets and quarterly monitoring, with progress measured through indicators such as businesses supported, financing accessed, jobs created, exports generated and increased local production.
Looking ahead, Siyum said the organisation’s five-year vision was to see Eswatini businesses grow progressively from nano enterprises to micro, small and medium-sized businesses.
“We want to see from nano shifting to micro, from micro shifting to small, from small to medium businesses that is going to be emerged,” he said.
He added that sustainable business growth would ultimately translate into employment creation and increased exports.
Siyum further welcomed Eswatini’s participation as a founding member of the Africa Strategic Investment Alliance, saying the initiative would complement AeTrade’s efforts by addressing financing constraints faced by businesses.
As AeTrade seeks to establish more partnerships in Eswatini, Siyum said collaboration between government, the private sector, investors and businesses would be essential.
“The game for success in here is in collaborations,” he said.
The initiative therefore presents an opportunity for Eswatini businesses to move from simply participating in the local economy to becoming competitive players in the wider African market.
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(Courtesy Pic)
