Enterprises run by women and operating across the five-nation East African Community stands to benefit from a $4.5 million (Sh463.9 million) fund to enhance their capacity. This follows last week's launch of a project dubbed "Women and Trade" by TradeMark Africa targeting about 25,000 women traders in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan. The project is funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. TMA said it plans to partner with local organisations in educating female traders on trade and export procedures in the EAC bloc. The firm said its targets include a 10 per cent average growth in revenues of the successful businesses by end of next year. TMA also hopes to increase by 30 per cent the use of formal trade systems, adoption of policies, regulations and practices that support an enabling environment for women in cross border traders. Speaking during the launch in Nairobi, Foreign Affairs and International Trade CS Amina Mohamed said the project will help support women in the dorminant Small and Medium-sized Enterprises sector "Empowering women creates a positive multiplier effect on poverty reduction, economic growth, government revenues and employment creation, among other factors," Mohamed said. She said the government is keen to see the successful integration of the region and "an overall functional Free-Trade area for the continent".TMA CEO Frank Matsaert said the one-year programme will help address trade barriers faced by the women, including harassment from middlemen and double taxation at border points. "Women have been marginalised either overtly through violence...

Cross-border trade in Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by women traders who engage in informal trade because they lack market information but their economic potential can be elevated through skills training and education. Cross-border trade is the exportation of goods through country borders. “A lot of people go informal because they have the wrong idea about what they will be charged in the tariffs, there's corruption at the borders and we need to have more accountability at the borders,” said Lisa Karanja, Senior Director of Business Competitiveness at Trade Mark East Africa. They try to facilitate trade and ensure that the benefits are reaching everybody and contribute to economic growth. "Women dominate trade in East Africa, particularly informal trade ranges from large SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) exporting goods to smaller women who are taking vegetables across,” she said. Karanja says how often people say “just increase trade and it will be good for everyone” while trying to address poverty, but that is not the case for women she said as they struggle through areas that men might not. Women suffer from “time poverty” issues because they have to look after children and are expected to work on the farms as well as a lack of access to transportation forcing them to trade smaller goods. “It’s really an economic issue, with so many women in poverty; so many women engaged in small scale border trade, how do we ensure that the benefits of the reforms are actually reaching these women?" Karanja...

Successful regional integration needs women at the centre of business and trade Nairobi, 15th October 2015 – TradeMark Africa (TMA) today launched a USD 4.5 million Women and Trade programme in an event graced by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for foreign affairs. H.E. Ambassador Amina Mohammed and the Deputy Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Kenya H.E Marielle Geraedts. Other guests included Country Head of DFID Kenya, Lisa Philips and TMA CEO Frank Matsaert. [caption id="attachment_9933" align="alignleft" width="600"] From left: Lisa Karanja, Senior Director, Business Competitiveness TMA; Karin Andersson, TMA Council Chair; Frank Matsaert, CEO, TMA; H.E Marielle Geraedts, Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands; Patricia Ithau, TMA Board member; Lisa Phillips, Head of DFID Kenya[/caption] Funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the programme targets 25,000 women traders in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan; and will run for approximately one year. A second five year phase is envisaged for 2017 with a USD 15million budget committed to the effort. Speaking during the ceremony, H.E. Amb. Amina Mohammed said, “Empowering women creates a positive multiplier effect on poverty reduction, economic growth, government revenues and employment creation, among other factors. We indeed are grateful to TMA and its partners for playing a big role in reducing poverty by increasing participation of women in export and trade in East Africa, increasing in female employment, increasing the value of exports and also supporting women in SME’s in East Africa. As a Government we are keen to see the successful integration...

TMA is the first company in East Africa to receive the Award Nairobi, 26th August 2015. TradeMark Africa today received the world’s most prestigious corporate procurement certification from the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS). The award was presented to TMA at the DusitD2 Hotel in Nairobi during a press conference led by the organization’s vice chairman, Tim Lamont and CEO Frank Matsaert. The award makes TMA the second organisation in Africa, after the Africa Development Bank, to receive the certification, and the first in East Africa. [caption id="attachment_8703" align="alignleft" width="600"] From left Felix Muema-Branch Chair Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Kenya, Frank Matsaert-CEO TradeMarkEast Africa (TMA), Tim Lamont,-Vice Chair of the TMA Board, Ken Jones-Chief Operating Officer TMA, André Coetzee-Managing Director CIPS Africa and Isaac Mwesigye-Procurement director TMA[/caption] The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) informed TMA of the certification this week after a detailed evaluation of the organisation’s procurement structures and practices. CIPS analysed TMA procurement processes according to 110 questions under the following headings: leadership & organization, people, performance management, process & systems and strategy. The CIPS process, through the 110 questions, provided the greatest audit, internal/ external and constructive feedback received from internal and external stakeholders. After an evaluation period of 8 months, TMA received the news of the certification on Monday making it the first East African company to have qualified for the award. “This award serves as further proof of TMA adhering to the highest international standards in procurement, maintaining...

Geneva – July 1st, 2015 – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and TradeMark Africa have signed an MOU which is aimed at boosting trade in East Africa through collaboration on Trade and Gender, Trade Facilitation, including Customs automation and trade portals and improving port infrastructure. [caption id="attachment_8117" align="alignleft" width="600"] From Left to Right, TMA CEO Frank Matsaert and UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General, Joakim Reiter, exchanging MOU documents in Geneva.From Left to Right, TMA CEO Frank Matsaert and UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General, Joakim Reiter, exchanging MOU documents in Geneva.[/caption] Speaking during the contribution agreement signing ceremony in Geneva, the Deputy Secretary General for UNCTAD Joakim Reiter said: “UNCTAD is excited about this new partnership with TradeMark Africa. This partnership reinforces UNCTAD capacity to assist East Africa in the implementation of trade enhancing reforms”. Speaking at the signing ceremony, TradeMark CEO Frank Matsaert noted that trade infrastructure is critical to East Africa’s prosperity, and in creating the much needed jobs in the region. Currently East Africa’s trade corridors are characterised by long transit times and high costs. Freight costs per kilometre are more than 50% higher than costs in the United States and Europe, and for the landlocked countries, transport costs can be as high as 45% of the value of exports. “We are delighted to enter into a MoU with UNCTAD which provides a platform for cooperation between our two organisations. This will help us work together with our partners in the EAC in a more coordinated way...

Arusha — South Sudan, the newest but troubled African State which had also applied to join the Arusha-pivoted, East African Community has announced that, the country will need five more years to sensitize its citizens before becoming the sixth member of the EAC. Official reports from the East African Community Secretariat in Arusha are to the effect that South Sudan's council of ministers approved the country's bid to join the EAC, but insisted its government needed five years to sensitise citizens on the benefits and risks of becoming a member. The council, recently chaired by President Salva Kiir, reportedly listened to a memo presented by the presidential advisor and economic affairs, Mr Aggrey Tisa Sabuni that the government must prepare its people on the risks of joining the community as well informing them on the benefits that the citizens of South Sudan are going to gain, as far as the Deputy Information Minister, Racheal Nyadak, is concerned. Meanwhile, the Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania also accredited to the EAC bloc, Ms Hanne-Marie Kaarstad, has paid a courtesy call on Dr Richard Sezibera, the Secretary General of the East African Community. The Secretary General and his guest discussed a wide range of issues geared towards deepening cooperation between Norway and the East African Community. Ms Hanne-Marie Kaarstad also briefed the Secretary General about the pending visit by the Royal Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Monica Meland to the EAC Headquarters in September 2015. Later, Dr Richard Sezibera and Ambassador...

JUBA, 20 June 2015 [Gurtong] - Hon. Racheal Nyadak Paul, Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting while addressing journalists after the council of ministers meeting on Friday said the council has agreed to join the EAC. “The Council resolved that joining the East Africa Community is a key interest to the people of South Sudan” said Nyadak. Nyadak added that the approval on the timeline on how the agreed project can be implemented will be discussed in the assembly which the council has agreed. “There will be a summit in October this year where possibility may be South Sudan can be a member of EAC” she said. The Deputy Minister said the council also had a briefing on the aspects of joining the EAC including discussions on the risks and benefits. “The council further discussed and resolved the need to sensitize the community on how important joining the community is and if there are risks they have to be discussed on how to come out of those risks” she said. “Already there are interests and there are gains or benefits of joining the East Africa Community” she said. In regards to obtaining a visa to the East African countries, she said “you don’t obtain your visa in Juba to travel to the East Africa like Kampala or Nairobi; you just get your visa at the airport whenever you feel like to travel. I think these are the good things that we have seen” she explains. Source: Gurtong

June 20, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s council of ministers on Friday approved the country’s bid to join the East African Community (EAC), but insisted its government needed five years to sensitise citizens on the benefits and risks of becoming a member. The council, during its weekly meeting chaired by president Salva Kiir, reportedly listened to memo presented by the presidential advisor and economic affairs, Aggrey Tisa Sabuni. “We have to sensitize our people on the risks of joining the community as well informing them on the benefits that the citizens of South Sudan are going to gain,” the deputy information minister, Racheal Nyadak told reporters in the country’s capital, Juba. Sabuni, who co-chaired the government of South Sudan team on joining the five-member regional body, told the council of ministers that the new nation could benefit from joining the EAC, which currently comprises of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. “If you are a south Sudanese, you are African and once have pay fees like Kenyans or Ugandans citizens because they are not foreigners,” Nyadak quoted Sabuni to have said. South Sudan applied for EAC membership soon after gaining it’s independence from neighbouring Sudan in 2011. However, the young nation’s admission to the bloc delayed as member countries cited poor governance and its underdeveloped public institutions. Although South Sudan could be admitted to the EAC at its October summit, Nyadak said cabinet’s resolution would see the young nation maintain observer status for five years. The resolution to join the...

The 19th century British colonialist Cecil Rhodes’ dream of unifying Africa from “Cape to Cairo’ was not too far-fetched after all. In a poetic sense, tinged with a dash of de ja vu, this dream was fulfilled with the launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area Agreement (TFTA), in the idyllic Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea when 26 African Heads of State endorsed an economic integration plan for the continent on a scale never witnessed before. The new trade arrangement, signed on Wednesday, June 10, was described by president Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe as creating a “borderless continent”. It assembled three (RECs) regional economic communities into a single free trade area that establishes a framework for preferential tariffs to ease the movement of goods and people in the region. “We have told the world today…of our desire to adopt practices that are necessary to increase trade among ourselves. We will do whatever is possible to activate this agreement,” said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when he hosted 26 Heads of State, representing the largest trading bloc in Africa, and one of the biggest free trade areas in the world. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) combine a population of over 625 million people, making up over half of Africa’s population and a GDP of over $1 trillion. Negotiations for the TFTA were undertaken in two phases. Phase I covered trade in goods,...

The South African Development Community (SADC) in yellow, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in different shades of green and the East African Community (EAC) in the light brown (the only country in the EAC that isn’t also a member of COMESA is Tanzania). That map is from 2009 so doesn’t include South Sudan. In a recent note, Capital Economics named Africa as one of the world’s few potential bright spots as far as boosting global trade is concerned: Over a longer time horizon, sub-Saharan Africa could also play a much larger role in world trade… If sub-Saharan Africa can sustain the pace of GDP growth seen over the past ten years, its share of the world economy could more than double over this time. While this would not be as dramatic as China’s rise over the past 35 years, it does still imply that Africa’s share of world trade will rise substantially from where it is today. Given the development levels and divergence of the countries involved, progress is likely to be slow — but the Tripartite Free Trade Area would be a big step in the right direction. The world is just about to get a free trade area that’s bigger, by population, than either the European Union or NAFTA. It’s got nothing to do with the much-publicised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In fact, you’ve probably never heard of it. It’s actually the Tripartite Free Trade Area, a deal that...