VICKI: Inside the GUBA Trade & Investment Conference 2025

The Atlantic once divided Africa and the Caribbean. Today, under the banner “Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny – Connect. Build. Renew.”, it is becoming a bridge for trade, innovation, and shared prosperity. Held in Bridgetown, Barbados, on November 10, 2025, the GUBA Trade & Investment Conference brought together African and Caribbean heads of government, investors, and creatives in what is being hailed as the most practical platform yet for South-South economic collaboration.

In her keynote address, Lady Dentaa Amoateng MBE, founder of GUBA Enterprise, captured the spirit of the gathering: “Over 400 years ago, the Atlantic was used to divide and displace our people. Today, we return not in chains but in collaboration; not in sorrow but in strength.”

She reminded delegates that the Atlantic must now serve as a corridor of connection, where governments and private enterprise co-create frameworks for trade, tourism, and creative partnerships.

With Africa’s and the Caribbean’s combined GDP exceeding US $3.5 trillion and a population of 1.4 billion, Lady Dentaa urged both regions to transform cultural solidarity into structured commerce.

One of the conference’s pivotal voices was Okechukwu Ihejerika, Acting Chief Operating Officer of Afreximbank – Caribbean Office. “When we designed our intra-African trade strategy, we defined it as Africans anywhere they are — whether in Bridgetown, Freetown, or Nairobi. We are all Africans.”

He highlighted Afreximbank’s Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) program, which finances cross-continental projects in fashion, film, gastronomy, music, and sports. Through CANEX Weekend and its annual meetings, the bank connects small businesses and creatives to investors, showing that culture itself is capital.

Aisha Maina, CEO of Aquarian Consult, described her team’s historic charter flight linking Nigeria and St Kitts & Nevis, a mission that carried 120 delegates, entrepreneurs, artists, and government officials. “We talk a lot about reconnection, but we also have to act,” she said.

“In one week, businesses sold out 90 percent of their stock, and new MOUs were signed across agriculture and the creative industries.” Her soon-to-launch foundation, Re-Rooting Global Africa, will continue this work through exchange programs and cultural education designed to help both regions rediscover and monetize shared heritage.

For decades, logistics and limited air connectivity hindered Africa–Caribbean trade. That narrative shifted with the first charter flight from Accra to Barbados, symbolizing a tangible new trade route. Ihejerika believes momentum will make the connection permanent: “Once people start meeting and doing business, airlines will follow the demand.”

The conference signals a new phase of African diplomacy, rooted in partnership, not patronage. Diversified markets expand trade southward and reduce dependence on Europe and Asia. Creative exports in fashion and film become viable instruments of foreign exchange. Diaspora capital shifts Africans abroad from remittance senders to co-investors.

Policy synergy between AfCFTA and CARICOM’s Single Market can merge into a new South-South corridor. As Lady Dentaa noted, “We cannot talk about being Pan-African if we don’t include the Caribbean.” Through aligned frameworks and financing, Africa and the Caribbean can finally translate kinship into capital.

Four centuries ago, the Atlantic carried Africans away. Today, it carries the opportunity home. The GUBA Trade & Investment Conference 2025 marks the beginning of a new economic ecosystem that positions both regions as co-architects of global growth.

Dr Vicki Otaruyina is The Elevation Coach, Group CEO of The Africa Guide, and Global Market Expansion Lead with Ruyina Global.