It is no brainer that many foreign countries have been eyeing Africa for trade and investments purposes. Africa is known of its rich mineral land and unexploited resources that mother countries have lacked required capital and technical skills to do it themselves from oil, diamonds, gold not to mention all the agricultural products such as coffee, tea, cocoa etc. United States of America, one among the biggest ranked economies in the world has had interests in doing business in Africa since time immemorial, at the time when Vice President Richard Nixon after winding his trip in Africa recommended to then President Dwight Eisenhower of the greater potential of drawing attention in Investing in Africa and so has been that not with U.S.A but the likes of China, United Kingdom, and other countries such as Japan as had their good sharable investment steps in doing business in the continent. The Obama administration championed to suite U.S. initiatives by Introducing and running a campaign of Doing Business in Africa, Power Africa, and Trade Africa, while the Trump Administration transformed the Overseas Private Investment Corporation into the Development Finance Corporation, beginning negotiations for a free trade agreement with Kenya, and launched Prosper Africa – a U.S. government initiative that was meant to increase trade and investment between the United States and Africa. However, the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance that was formed by the current U.S administration headed by President Biden made its way clear of partnering with dynamic and fast-growing African economies...

THE Eastern and Southern Africa small-scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF) convened a meeting recently which brought together stakeholders from the private sector and government to discuss the Southern African Development Community (SADC) vision 2050 and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020–2030. Participants to the conference which was themed: “Tanzania Awareness National Dialogue on the new SADC Vision 2050 and RISDP 2020-2030” came up with a number of policy recommendations geared to ensure successful implementation of the agreed development plans. The virtual meeting was supported by Southern Africa Trust (SAT) and German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). They suggested for SADC member states to speed up ratification and domestication of all SADC protocols and programmes at the national level including the SADC Development Fund and SADC Agriculture Development Funds. Stakeholders also advised the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation to fast track the formation of the Tanzania SADC National Committee (SNC) as well as ensure fully participation of Non-State Actors (NSA) including the private sector, civil society organizations, farmer organizations and the media in the national and regional development agenda. On the RISDP 2020-2030, they suggested that SADC member states including Tanzania recognize and domesticate the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF) 2019-2028 which aims to shed new light on the important role family farmers play in eradicating hunger. Governments to increase joint trading by ensuring every member state identifies products of its comparative advantage to trade within the block. The stakeholders pushed for...

Technological advancements, financial sector innovations and recent health threats like the Coronavirus have fuelled a greater reliance and need for digital trade and online shopping. The surge in E-Commerce globally has resulted in the need for efficient payment and data management systems. The adoption of data centres provides a data management system solution that allows for efficient payment across e-commerce platforms.   What are data centres? Data centres are ICT command centres used by various businesses to provide cloud storage, data processing and applications support services. These are useful to ensure safe, efficient and reliable online markets. IT penetration in Africa is the major determinant of the growth and development of data centres. Economic and administrative prioritisation has not been directed towards investments in IT infrastructure. A norm that IT investments are concerns for the private sector and not for the government prevails throughout the continent. As such, the continent is falling behind in IT penetration as government efforts lag behind that of the private sector. Infrastructure development in IT by the private sector has hugely promoted e-commerce. With the growth of digital business, there has been a wave by organisations to develop data centres to better handle the digital sphere of doing business. Most of these data centres have been adopted in Africa’s biggest markets, like Nigeria and South Africa. This sophisticated avenue of ICT is an emerging employment sector. A competent labour force with adequate skills is required to ensure efficient management of data centres. Investment in ICT infrastructure Global...

As the UK forges a new set of global partnerships post-Brexit, questions remain over its commitment to the continent after the reduction in the aid budget. But the UK's minister for Africa James Duddridge argues that African countries see the UK as a long term partner and that historical and financial ties remain as strong as ever. The UK is in global diplomatic realignment, and not just in Europe. While the UK was close to the Chinese under previous prime minister David Cameron, the current executive under Boris Johnson is far closer to the US position; speaking up on the Uyghur genocide and on repression in Hong Kong, and backing away from including Chinese technology companies in core UK communications networks. Will this realignment be visible in Africa? Brexit diplomacy There is now a bloat of foreign powers seeking advantage on the continent, each bringing their own strengths: from the project financing of Chinese infrastructure providers, the technology of the Japanese, the price points of Turkish goods and the agribusiness competence of Brazil. “We are motoring”, says UK minister for Africa James Duddridge. He points to post-Brexit trade agreements signed with 15 African countries and the advantages that the UK can depend on, such as use of English, the attractiveness of the City of London and the long history of UK corporate engagement on the continent. “Yes, there are a lot of players, but more and more we’ll be working in consortium across countries, rather than just having a simple...

Summary Covid-19 is daunting, complex, and ubiquitous. It is not just a public health matter; but also affects progress in the fight against poverty in Africa, due to its direct impact on jobs and economic performance. We are living in times of great uncertainty, fuelled by the onset of Covid-19. Despite this, we have maintained our focus on supporting trade and building prosperity, creating jobs, and reducing poverty in eastern Africa. Covid-19 is daunting, complex, and ubiquitous. It is not just a public health matter; but also affects progress in the fight against poverty in Africa, due to its direct impact on jobs and economic performance. It has catalysed rethinking of global supply chains, shaken traditional patterns of partnerships, but also stimulated unanticipated innovation. It has magnified the importance of trade as a driver for development and building resilient economies. It is noteworthy that projected economic growth has more than halved in many countries, particularly in East Africa. TradeMark Africa has responded by creating a Covid-19 mitigation programme that leveraged our 10 years of experience, in addition to accelerate core programming with higher levels of innovation and forged new partnerships to address challenges to eastern Africa’s recovery. In 2019-20, we begun with an overview of the innovative Safe Trade Emergency Facility (Safe Trade) that we developed and rolled out when Covid-19 first hit East Africa. This was rolled out with the support of our development partners in the European Union, Finland, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The...

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 100,000 African lives and nearly 4 million cases have been recorded so far. Africa’s COVID-19 story is one of nuances. Only 10 countries account for over 80% of all cases, island nations suffer peculiar impacts, rural-urban differentiation is evident, socioeconomic implications reveal gender biases, and trade patterns matter. There is no single Africa COVID-19 story. Addressing COVID-19 in Africa and designing appropriate remedial strategies requires a thorough understanding of Africa’s diverse contexts and an appreciation of the role of regional integration in defining solutions. UNDP Africa’s new report: “Analysing long-term socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 across diverse African contexts” examines the effect COVID-19 will have on macro-economic development in 10 African countries by 2030 and 2050. The study highlights the multifaceted economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic across Africa, including on human development indicators, economic interdependence, and growth and resilience patterns. Changes in mortality, economic growth and international financial flows in Angola, Cabo Verde, Chad, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa are analysed in the document. The report also assesses the longer-term impacts on trade, economic growth and health indicators and proposes actionable solutions. Read original article

African logistics startups are positioning themselves to play a key role in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), the largest free-trade area in the world by the number of participating countries, which launched on Jan. 1. As businesses that tend to think about being in multiple markets from the onset, startups can help tackle some of the biggest goals of the agreement, such as common payment systems and common user experiences, says Onyekachi Izukanne, co-founder and CEO of TradeDepot, a Lagos-based startup that distributes consumer goods from manufacturers to retailers in three countries. “We are big supporters of this increased access to market that the agreement promotes, even if we recognize that there is still quite a bit of work to be done,” says Izukanne. “I look at the agreement as a promise of integration.” Tech can help tackle some of the biggest issues that have prevented trade from growing in Africa, including cutting down on red tape and easing supply-chain bottlenecks. But startups can’t do it alone. Governments will need to cooperate by creating infrastructure and ensuring that regulations don’t drag things down. Low intra-African trade AfCTA covers a market of 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP of $3 trillion. The agreement underpinning the trade area was signed by 54 out of the 55 African Union countries, with 36 countries ratifying it as at Feb. 5. The main goal of the agreement is to create a single market for goods and services in Africa and deepen the...

A financial agreement worth €10.5 million between the Government of Finland and TradeMark Africa (TMA) has been signed. The Government of Finland, represented by its Ambassador to Kenya H.E. Erik Lundberg, reiterated its commitment to supporting regional trade and the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the East African region. The event was officiated by Kenya’s Ministry of East Africa and Regional Development Principal Secretary Dr. Kevit Desai and witnessed by TMA Board Chair Amb. Erastus Mwencha, TMA CEO Mr. Frank Matsaert and TMA Country Director Mr. Ahmed Farah. Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies that contribute to the successful implementation of National Single Windows. TMA has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which not only reduce costs associated with trade, but also reduce the carbon footprint of transport. Lake and rail transport produce much less emission per tonne of cargo moved as compared to road transport. Efforts will go towards supporting digital trade corridors, safe sanitary and phytosanitary trade corridors, bolster trade remedies structures at national, regional and continental levels, investments in standards quality infrastructure centres of excellence, scale up of regional authorised economic operator schemes and authorised supply chains frameworks. This infrastructure will be critical in reducing barriers to trade and supporting smooth implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The new funding will build up on results that have been achieved in previous programmes funded by...

In Summary Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies. TMA has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which reduce costs associated with trade. TradeMark Africa (TMA) and Finland have signed a financial agreement worth €10.5 million(Sh1.38billion) that will help in supporting regional trade and the fight against Covid-19. Through this new Finnish funding, TMA will scale up support to governments to adopt ICT for Trade systems in key trade agencies that contribute to the successful implementation of National Single Window. TMA is focussed on reducing non- tariff barriers that hinder trade within the East Africa region. It has laid frameworks and forged partnerships to support multimodal transport corridors which not only reduce costs associated with trade, but also reduce the carbon footprint of transport. Ministry of East Africa and Regional Development PS Kevit Desai appreciated Finland’s continued support to promoting efficient and increased trade in the region and the continued fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. “The TMA Kenya Country Programme has facilitated interventions to reduce transport time and increase import and export volumes in Kenya. This has directly contributed to Kenya’s consistent improvement in the trading across borders,” said Desai. Efforts will go towards supporting digital trade corridors, safe sanitary and phytosanitary trade corridors and bolster trade remedies structures at national, regional and continental levels. Support will also be channelled towards investments in standards quality, setting up infrastructure centres of excellence,...

In Summary If AGRA has evidence to refute our findings, it should share those results so participating governments, donors, and farmers can assess their investments in the project If, on the other hand, AGRA has not gathered the data to monitor its expensive interventions, that could be even worse When are African governments, donors, and African farmers going to demand some accountability from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa? Fourteen years into this billion-dollar donor initiative to revolutionise African farming, and now past the 2020 endpoint for its goals of doubling yields and incomes for 30 million smallholder farmers, AGRA finally published internal country monitoring and evaluation reports from early last year. I reviewed all 1,365 pages of those documents, unearthed in Freedom of Information Act requests to the US Agency for International Development after AGRA refused to provide them. They show no progress toward AGRA’s top-line goals. The absence of impact data in AGRA’s 11 recent country Outcome Monitoring reports, with no reference to results from its first 10 years of Green Revolution promotion, suggests either that those results are so poor the organisation does not want to reveal them or that it has never bothered to track progress toward its main goals. It is hard to know which is worse. If AGRA is concealing evidence that its well-funded interventions, backed by massive African government subsidies for farmers to purchase commercial seeds and fertilisers, are failing to produce the intended results, it is defrauding donors, participating governments,...