Africa is moving into a “game on” position as the continent’s population grows apace with its acceleration to become the world’s biggest trade-liberalised area – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).But it means that supply chain efficiencies (SCE) will have to be “switched on”, Africa expert Dr Martyn Davies told a gathering of business executives at Deloitte rec ently.Speaking at an “Africa Outlook 2020” event, Davies, who heads up the auditing firm’s division for Emerging Markets and Africa, ref lected on UN data tipping Africa’s population to top that of China’s by 2025.“That’s just five years away,” Davies warned, begging the question whether local business concerns will be ready to answer the call of a common market on the continent.With Africa’s population curve expected to bend upwards to about 1.5 billion people in the next few years, surpassing China’s population of almost 1.4 billion, getting goods to market fast will be one of the continent’s most important private and public sector priorities.“It has significant implications for the consumer market in Africa,” Davies said.And whereas big multinationals like FedEx Express made significant strides towards meeting grow ing demand for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) early on, making histor y as it did when it touched down at OR Tambo International with its Boeing 777 last September, the feeling on the ground is that SCEs are lagging behind.“Business should ask itself how it’s going about leveraging off opportunities in Africa at the moment.“The interest is there but are we taking advantage of it?”Part of progressively preparing for what’s to come, Davies said, was to apply capital spending in such a way that it made the biggest difference, a concept generally referred to as “impact investment”.Speaking days ahead of the appointment of South African trade negotiator Wamkele Mene to assume control of AfCTFA’s office in Accra – a contentious point as Pretoria had to spar with Abuja who punted a Nigerian for the position – Davies said “Africa’s free trade area could be nett positive for the continent”.With an anticipated reach of about 1.2 billion people and a projected combined GDP of at least $3.4 billion people, Davies has reason to feel optimistic.“Things are rapidly changing,” he said.“Two or three years ago the rhetoric of free trade was not even present on the continent. Now everyone is embracing it.” Considering that the UK finally took its first tentative step in breaking away from the EU on January 31, and not forgetting the ongoing tariff standoff between the US and China, Africa’s move towards trade liberalisation “is contrary to most countries at the moment”.Since the US, EU and UK think of multilateral trade liberalisation as a risky business, Davies emphasised that Africa would have to venture carefully into territory where others feared to tread.“As sectors we will have to think what’s in it for us. How do we benefit from liberalised trade across what remains an incredibly fragile continent.”It included not just looking at Africa’s mushrooming consumer market “through the lens of FMCG”, Davies said, but encompassing all possible sources that could potentially scupper that continent’s trade dreams.These, he said, included ongoing problems such as lack of integration and the lack of mechanised goods and services f lowing across the continent as they should.