The Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) has asked Uganda enterprises to ensure high quality standards of their products in order to benefit from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

PSFU, in partnership with United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is conducting training of over 250 enterprises to benefit from exporting through ACFTA.

The training brings together enterprises from various sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, trade and commerce, logistics and transport, tourism, ICT among others.

The aim of the training is to provide technical support to equip export-ready enterprises in Uganda with knowledge, skills, and tools to enhance access to ACFTA market, regional market, and the global market.

Speaking at the training workshop in Kampala, PSFU Executive Director, Stephen Asiimwe said Ugandan enterprises will lose if standards of their products are lacking.

“The issue of standards is very vital when we talk about ACFTA. If we don’t ensure quality standards, we will lose a lot of money. When our products are of high quality, many buyers will have confidence in them,” he said

The ACFTA, which went into force in January 2021, was created to form a single market for goods and services on the African continent, which allows for free movement of persons and investments.

The Bloc has been touted as a game changer for economies like Uganda, as it promises larger market opportunities, triggering more trade and investment and allowing greater value addition, export diversification and productivity growth – leading to more and better jobs with greater social inclusion.

ACFTA is a huge trading bloc with a market of over $2.5 trillion and 3 billion people. It is a market of all African countries, except Eritrea which has not signed the agreement.

Africa’s share of world exports in 2018 was 2.5% which is lower than it’s share of global GDP (3%), and the exports are concentrated in a few unprocessed commodities.

According to PSFU, many African commodities are always not very welcome on the global market mainly due to non tariff barriers and quotas.

To address the matter, Asiimwe told Ugandan enterprises at the workshop that PSFU has responsible for providing a conducive environment for Ugandan private sector to do business. He said the challenge non tariff barriers has been solved under ACFTA.

“One of the mandates of PSFU is Policy and Advocacy (between Governments and regional establishments such as EAC, COMESA among others). If we are to talk about ACFTA, we have to talk about non tariff barriers. If we are going to do meaningful business in Africa [through Africa Continental Free Trade Area], the issue of non tariff barriers gets to be addressed. For the first time in history, we as Africa have decided to remove borders to do business together. It is a great achievement,” he said.

“In the UK, to export a pineapple, it must be of a certain weight, size, and must maintain it’s freshness. For a long time, they have rejected our products. So, ACFTA is the best thing that has happened to Africa and Uganda,” he added.

Asiimwe further told Ugandan private sector that they are entering ACFTA market with 54 countries, and therefore, the bloc provides big opportunities.

“You only need to be organized. We must ensure quality standards of our products,” he said.

John Kyazze from Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) lectured Ugandan enterprises in the Logistics and Transport Sector aiming to tap into opportunities brought by ACFTA, and re-emphasized standards of their products.

He said Standards make it easier for many companies to have their goods certified, help companies to reduce costs, have easy access to market, safeguard users and consumers, and build customer confidence.

“Standards lead to higher efficiency, enhanced product safety, lower product liability risk, easier access to market,” he added.

Chris Onguramong, Senior Officer – marketing in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives said Ugandan exports have for long been dominated by unprocessed commodities, and asked Uganda enterprises to embrace value addition in order to have competitive products to compete in the ACFTA with bigger economies.

“Most of our exports have been dominated by raw materials; we are now saying, how do we embrace value addition to benefit from the ACFTA,” he said.

African market is dominated by bigger economies such as South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco among others, and a result, Onguramong said Ugandan enterprises have to be prepared and enter ACFTA when they have something to reap.

To the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that aspire to benefit from ACFTA, Onguramong advised that Uganda could establish an anchor firm supplier programme where smaller firms are supported to supply large foreign firms, and exporters to spur growth through backward linkages.

“We have Introduce our companies to companies outside Uganda,” he said.

Onguramong highlighted policy recommendations to facilitate increased Ugandan exports, and they included; reduce cost of doing business (focus on infrastructure, freight costs, governance, energy and regulatory compliance), diversify both export markets and products for better results from export growth, focus on exploiting available overseas export markets, and scale up manufacturing ability and emphasis on agro industry.

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