Rosa Cañadas: ‘European companies need to know that they will find qualified personnel in Africa’

Rosa Cañadas moderated the round table discussion on integration and sustainable economy at the third edition of the Africa Spain Summit, which took place recently in Madrid.

The president of the Tanja Foundation is a regular guest at these forums and has extensive knowledge of Spanish-Moroccan relations.

Rosa Cañadas, president of the Tanja Foundation, thank you for joining us. Madrid is once again hosting the Africa Spain Summit, a well-established event now in its third edition. On this occasion, the forum has adopted a new approach, focusing more on dialogue between public administrations in Spain and African countries. What can we expect from this new approach and what progress do you think has been made since it began in 2023?

I think it is important that both sides are present at this forum: civil society, which may be interested in the process Africa is undergoing; but, obviously, without public administrations we will not be able to move forward. Therefore, I think it is good that there is this dual presence: on the one hand, civil society and businesses; and on the other, public administrations, which also have to push to give Africa the visibility it needs.

Strategic relations, youth, sustainable economy, Agenda 2030, collaboration between Africa and Spain... This forum addresses a wide range of issues arising from the collaboration between Spain and African countries. In what priority areas do you think this collaboration is most important for mutual benefit?

For me, training and youth. We have a continent with a huge percentage of people under the age of 20, which is going to grow exponentially in the coming years and needs training. Therefore, we must have a very strong focus on training. The thing is, of course, we cannot forget all the other issues.

Over the last year, we have witnessed an upsurge in international conflicts, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East and the Sahel, which is affecting international trade routes. Added to this is the tariff war launched by the United States, to which other powers are responding. In this environment, what can Africa offer as an alternative to other markets, taking advantage of its privileged geographical location on Europe's doorstep?

Firstly, it is a shame that we have to take advantage of everything that is happening, especially wars. But it is true that the issue of US tariffs may allow Spain, Europe and other countries to turn their attention to Africa and explore other markets.

Within this special relationship between Africa and Spain, what role does Morocco play as a country that connects the two continents and is a leader in Africa's economic revitalisation?

I believe that Morocco has a very important role to play in Europe's relationship with Africa. Let's not forget that Spain is Morocco's leading trading partner, so I believe that we can learn from this relationship, which has taken us a long time to build with Morocco, and transfer it to other African countries. On the other hand, Morocco has a better understanding of the other African countries, thanks to this relationship and all the agreements it has with them. At the very least, I believe we can use Morocco as a platform to reach out to all these other African countries.

One of the great competitive advantages of African countries is a very young population that is increasingly prepared to meet the needs of international companies. How can African countries take advantage of this enormous human potential?

This brings us back to the issue of training. There is still no perception in Europe that people are prepared, and yet there is a lot of very good training in Africa, but this perception does not yet exist. Therefore, I believe that we need to be more open, explain a little more and, as this forum is doing, give a voice to everything that is happening so that European companies can overcome one of the barriers, which is thinking that they will not find qualified personnel in the country they are going to. This is something that should be emphasised.

Finally, we would like to know what activities and prospects the Tanja Foundation has: what work it is doing and what its plans are for the future.

We are currently focusing a lot on the issue of funding; there is little private funding and few investment funds looking towards Africa, and this is one of the areas where we also want to make progress, because it is clear that not only public funding is needed, but private funding must also continue. This is the new approach we are taking.