A vibrant and successful private sector is key to sustainable growth.  More must be done to help small and medium enterprises access capital, skills and training, and opportunities to trade so that they can grow within the formal economy. In addition, the private sector has a large role to play in accelerating growth in agriculture and thereby engaging with millions of the world's poor.

Alongside the priorities set out above, particularly on the investment climate, infrastructure, governance and trade, Business Action for Africa supports the proposal in the Commission for Africa Report for the creation of an Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) and calls on governments to provide the resources required to make it effective.  It is particularly important that the AECF support the growth of enterprises in the agriculture sector, given the importance of this sector to the livelihoods of the vast majority of poor people, and to growth and employment prospects across the wider economy.

The international community and national governments should draw on the skills and investment resources of the African diaspora worldwide.  The diaspora has a key contribution through the transfer and sharing of entrepreneurial skills and investments, and this should be supported. We call upon the international community, particularly host countries where Africans have made their homes, to recognize the range of ways - as entrepreneurs, investors, skilled professionals, and remittance senders (individually and collectively) - in which the African diaspora make valuable contributions to Africa. Specifically, host countries could do more to formulate coherent policies to facilitate the transnational existence of the African diaspora to play active roles in Africa, while doing the same in their host environments.

BAA Enterprise Development Project

Jointly led by Anglo American, Barclays, Rio Tinto, SABMiller, Shell Foundation and Unilever, this is exploring the scope for collective action on enterprise development – including, for example, joint business development services, vocational and technical skills training for young people, employee engagement, sharing of best practice and advocacy.  The scoping work was managed by IBLF and supported by Accenture Development Partners.