South Africa is not constrained by a lack of policy, institutions or infrastructure. Rather, the challenge lies in ensuring that these systems translate into practical opportunities for entrepreneurs seeking to grow beyond their local markets. While the country has begun trading under AfCFTA, many women and youth-led enterprises remain disconnected from the finance, market linkages, business support services and trade networks needed to participate meaningfully in regional value chains.

For Gloria Kiondo, UNDP South Africa's Deputy Resident Representative, the validation dialogue was about far more than reviewing research findings.

"Today's workshop is about the thousands of young women and men entrepreneurs across the six countries this project seeks to support," she said.

These are entrepreneurs with the ambition to grow their businesses but who continue to face barriers that prevent them from participating fully in regional markets. The Country Scan found that less than one in four surveyed enterprises currently participate in regional or cross-border trade, while awareness and use of AfCFTA mechanisms remain extremely low. Access to finance continues to be the single greatest constraint to business growth, particularly for women-owned enterprises.
 

Yet the opportunity has never been greater.

"We have a market of 1.4 billion people. It's an economy worth US$3.4 trillion, with the promise of growing African exports by more than US$560 billion by 2035," Kiondo said.

Throughout the dialogue, participants repeatedly returned to one central theme: entrepreneurs do not simply need more programmes—they need better pathways into opportunity.

That means strengthening enterprise capabilities, improving access to finance, expanding digital payment solutions, and building stronger ecosystems that connect entrepreneurs to markets, institutions and regional value chains.
Tlale Matseke, Senior Manager for Agriculture at the National Youth Development Agency, highlighted that many businesses are established without being intentionally prepared for export markets.

"The principal constraint that we are seeing from an export readiness perspective for young people establishing businesses in South Africa is that the orientation is not intended for export purposes."

She illustrated this through the story behind the clothing she was wearing—a garment designed by a Nigerian fashion brand and accessed through an African-owned platform established by entrepreneurs from Ghana and Zimbabwe. The example demonstrated that regional value chains are already creating new opportunities across the continent. The challenge is ensuring that many more women and young entrepreneurs are equipped to participate in them.

Participants also challenged traditional perceptions of micro, small and medium enterprises.
Namhla Mniki, Head of Accelerator for Digitally Enabled MSME Finance for Women and Youth in the Presidency, argued that these businesses should no longer be viewed as operating on the margins of the economy

"Every single micro enterprise is actually connected within an important value chain. We must begin to recognise that value and compensate it adequately."

Her remarks reinforced one of the Country Scan's central findings: strengthening regional trade participation is not simply about supporting individual businesses—it is about building stronger, more connected value chains that enable entrepreneurs to contribute to Africa's economic transformation.