Ondoga Job Filbert, a customs liaison officer at APM Terminals Uganda, stands in front of a Maersk truck. Once a hopeful graduate, Filbert’s journey into logistics was shaped by regional training and certification efforts. For years, East Africa’s borders were chokepoints. Cargo often sat idle for days, and one of the reasons was the lack of training among customs clearing and forwarding agents. Many struggled to interpret trade laws, classify goods accurately, or navigate clearance systems. This created friction with customs officials and stalled clearance processes. For traders, the consequences were grim. They faced lost time, increased storage and demurrage fees, and missed business opportunities. But change has begun, one customs agent at a time, through targeted training and professional certification delivered through a collaboration between the East African Community (EAC) Directorate of Customs, the national and regional associations of customs clearing and forwarding agents, the customs departments, and development partners. Take Ondoga Job Filbert, who just a decade ago was a hopeful graduate who dreamt of working for a multinational logistics firm. Today, he is a customs liaison officer at APM Terminals Uganda, part of the Maersk Group’s shipping conglomerate. Dressed in a crisp blue company coat, Filbert speaks with passion about his work managing high-value consignments, ensuring compliance with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA)’s regulations, and responding to complex audit queries, all under tight timelines. Filbert’s journey to this position started in 2013, when he enrolled in the 11-month Certificate in Customs and Freight Logistics (CCFL), formerly known as...

Customs valuation is the process of determining the value of goods for the purpose of assessing the amount of taxes and duties they should be charged Nairobi, 03 May 2024: The Kenya Revenue Authority and the United Kingdom (UK) have partnered to streamline the Customs valuation process to make it more efficient, transparent, consistent, and predictable. This will reduce disputes, ensure faster clearance of goods for businesses, and create a level playing field. This process is also expected to boost Government revenues, resolve issues of trade based money laundering, and contribute to safeguarding consumers from unsafe and counterfeit products. As part of this enhancement, KRA with funding channelled through TradeMark Africa, by the UK trained over 2200 people involved in import of goods. The two month-long activity convened customs staff, clearing agents, and traders from Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Busia, Malaba, Namanga, and Moyale to improve their understanding of valuation rules and enhance their awareness on recent updates to the system. Commenting on the continued partnership between KRA and the UK, the British High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan said “Kenya is at the heart of East African trade.  We want that trade to operate at maximum efficiency, to benefit businesses and consumers across Kenya and East Africa. The UK and Kenya are working together in partnership to provide high quality infrastructure, which will deliver growth for Kenya and the region. We go far when we go together.” The funding for the project is part of the UK Government’s work to...

“Armed men broke his windscreen and started hitting him with an iron bar. They stole the goods he was carrying and left him for dead. By the time help came, it was too late. He had died from excessive bleeding,”-Patrick Mutinda, former Truck driver. East Africa’s Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking system (RECTS) has many benefits some of which include safety of cargo, expedited clearance at borders and reduced dumping. To many long-distance truck drivers, it has assured them of safety on the sometimes-treacherous transport corridors. RECTs is a webbased system that provides a harmonised platform for revenue authorities in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda to monitor transit cargo from loading to offloading thus curbing cargo dumping, diversion among other risks. Over the years, cargo volume along transport corridor has increased and this raised the need to facilitate quick movement of cargo without compromising customs security controls. That is the well-known story. The untold story is that of long-distance truck drivers ferrying high risk and often in demand goods, whose lives have been saved from armed robbers by the rapid response unit attached to RECTs. Drivers like Mutinda. Mutinda is a former long-distance truck driver. He recalls his perpetual discomfort driving along Kiu, a lonely hilly section of the Mombasa-Nairobi highway near Salama, as the area was known for armed gangsters who attacked cargo trucks. His friend lost his life in one such incidence. “My friend… as his truck slowed down, armed men attacked him, injuring him, and taking off with the goods...

“They are not TBS standards. They are the people’s standards,” Ms. Kezia Mbwambo, the Director of Quality Management at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) begins by setting the record straight. Ms. Mbwambo feels it is very important to address the constraint of a misguided public perception about standards and their uses. She does not however feel it is important nor helpful to apportion blame. On behalf of the TBS Director General, she has been leading efforts at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards to make standards work better for Tanzanians with support from TradeMark Africa (TMA). [caption id="attachment_55084" align="alignnone" width="1607"] “There has been slow uptake of standards, this despite the fact that TBS has always used participatory design strategies to come up with these standards, in line with international protocols and requirements for development of national standards,” Ms. Mbwambo says.[/caption] With support from TMA, the bureau is embarking on a process of improving its service delivery mechanisms to its stakeholders. Part of this improvement includes developing a training programme on standardization and quality assurance, mainly targeting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) using both paper-based and digital platforms. The bureau is also developing an Integrated Standardization, Quality assurance, Metrology and Testing (SQMT) system that will automate the key administrative processes used to offer services to its stakeholders. For TBS, this is expected to quicken the process of certifying products and expand the base of products that have met standards. For many entrepreneurs with dreams to do well in the country,...

Bureaucratic delays related to standards certification almost led Michael Kimeu* to give up on his ambitions to set up a bottled water business in early 2010’s. Kimeu set up a water distillation and bottling plant on the outskirts of Kajiado, a county to the south west of Kenya’s capital Nairobi. However, he knew that he could not embark on his new venture without his product acquiring certification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). The certification is a mandatory requirement for all locally manufactured products before they are shipped to markets locally or even regionally. It is issued to a firm as confirmation that a product conforms to requirements set by the Bureau. As soon as his equipment was installed and first product samples generated, Kimeu lodged his application for a permit. Almost half a year later, he was yet to receive the permit and attempts to follow up led to frustration. The delay had a negative impact on his business as supermarkets and other retailers could not stock his product without the KEBS mark of quality. It is an offence under the Standards Act Cap 496 of the laws of Kenya to offer a product for sale without a valid standard mark of quality. To keep his business active, Kimeu altered his initial plans and set up a small-scale water-refilling business, awaiting the KEBS license. "The kin d of investment I had made could not be recouped by the new strategy and I found that I was running into...

Mariam Babu, 43, a mother of five and grandmother to two who sells eggs in Kenya and salt in Uganda via the Busia border town, is not the image that springs to mind when you think of a smuggler. Yet when she recalls her time bringing in products from Kenya into Uganda through abandoned bush routes in the dead of the night, around 10 years ago, that is the word she chooses to describe herself. [caption id="attachment_55075" align="alignnone" width="640"] “Don’t get me wrong. We were not bringing in dangerous contraband,” she notes, “it was things like rice, wheat flour, and household goods. Yet the process of going through the proper routes at the Busia border, before the One-Stop Border Post was built was too complicated and too difficult for us small traders. The offices we have today didn’t exist. None of us knew where to go to clear our goods, the officers were rude and corrupt, and there was much paperwork to do - it was all so expensive. We never felt welcome at the border!”[/caption] Today, Mariam is the chairwoman of the Women’s Cross Border Traders Cooperative Society. From her office at the Women’s Trade Desk at the Busia One-Stop Border Post (OSBP), she reflects on her decade-long transformation. The changes at the border over the past several years, she says, have not only changed the border but also changed her life. She notes the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market, the construction of the OSBP...

From commercial to regulatory formalities, export procedures are often burdensome and time consuming for the average businessperson. Small delays in the implementation of any of these or more procedures have the potential to bring serious negative impact on businesses. “Buyers’ minds are often directed at obtaining a quality service or product, and in a timely manner. They are not too empathetic on procedural issues on the suppliers’ side. This burden is the exporters’ and cannot be shifted to anyone else,” explains Octavian Kiviryo, an expert in freight and logistics who has worked with many exporting businesses in Tanzania. Certificates of Origin (CoO) are important and mandatory pieces of documentation for the export business. As the name suggests, CoO details the origin of goods in a consignment. For a long time, a CoO cumbersome procedural requirement slowed down the exporting process from Tanzania. Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) and Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (ZNCCIA) are the institutions vested with the full mandate of verifying the origin of all goods manufactured or processed in Tanzania for the export market and therefore, the issuance of the Certificates of Origin. For a long time, they used manual process, that was littered with a lot of paper-work and multiple visits by traders to offices. Today, and with support from TradeMark Africa (TMA) the two institutions have adopted an electronic system for application of CoO greatly cutting back on transaction costs and time traders incurred. This is premised on...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="BACKGROUND" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:left"][vc_column_text]Improving the export market access and linkages of firms to export is a critical focus of many businesses in the EAC. Private enterprises in the EAC face a wide range of challenges that make trading across borders difficult and reduce the competitiveness of firms.  However, when there are reduced challenges in exporting this provides an opportunity for firms to increase profit and then re-invest to increase sales, turnover and productivity. Additionally, it increases the competitiveness of domestic firms, at least in the long run, as they become more exposed to dynamic and growing markets. With time this creates an enabling trade regime that helps increase the volume of imports and exports and subsequently contributes to economic growth and poverty reduction. The TMA Traidlinks supported (Export Development) programme worked with 16  Rwandan companies so as to link them to the markets outside Rwanda. The core business of these companies was agro-processing and manufacturing. One of the successful companies that were supported by the programme was G-Mart Limited who are located in Rwanda-Kigali. The programme was implemented in partnership with, Rwanda Development Board, Kigali Independent University and the relevant private sector stakeholders and the overall programme budget was estimated at about US$ 1.4million from 2013 to 2015. This case study profiles G-Mart Limited, a company that was supported by the programme. G-Mart manufactures chalk and was originally selling locally only in Rwanda but started exporting as a result of the TMA programme intervention.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="ISSUE ADDRESSED" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:left"][vc_column_text]Export promotion programmes is one...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="BACKGROUND" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:left"][vc_column_text]TFDA began its operations as a regulatory body on 1st July 2003 and is mandated to regulate the quality, safety and efficacy of food, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices which is provided for under the Tanzania Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Cap 219. Since its inception, TFDA has attained notable achievements in regulating the quality, safety and efficacy of food, medicines, cosmetics and medical devices. Amongst its achievements, TFDA has developed robust systems and put in place guidelines for registration of products, inspection and surveillance as well as laboratory analysis of product samples prior to market authorization. This case study focuses on the improvements that Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) has made in enhancing trade in Tanzania through the automation of their key trade process with support from TMA. The TMA support towards automation of key trade process at TFDA began in 2012 at a tune US $ 285,000 and is expected to end in 2017. The automated system at TFDA serves its stakeholders in registration, regulation and monitoring of food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices and premises in Tanzania. The expected outcome of the TMA intervention at TFDA was to increase efficiency through time and cost saving for TFDA and its stakeholders as the portal eliminates the need for physical presence of customers at TFDA offices, promotes transparency and accountability by TFDA and its customers which in the long run enhance and promotes trade.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="THE ISSUE" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:left"][vc_column_text]The method of services deliver at TFDA to its stakeholders needed...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="BACKGROUND" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:center"][vc_column_text]Rwanda Agricultural Livestock Inspection and Certification Services (RALIS) a directorate under the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) is a public institution responsible for the overall coordination of: the enforcement of the Rwanda plant health law and regulations for phytosanitary measures necessary for trade, Plant pest/disease monitoring, surveillance and diagnosis, conducting Pest Risk Analysis, and conduct inspection and certification. RALIS also delivers animal product's certification services including enforcement of sanitary laws, monitoring and surveillance of animal diseases, and animal inspection and certification. This case study shows how the TMA support to RALIS has been used to automate the systems and processes used to regulate and facilitate businesses in Rwanda by reducing the time and cost spent when acquiring import and export permits. The RALIS SWIFT project was implemented at an estimated budget of US$ 124,000 and the projected started in 2011 and is expected to be ending in 2017 with the main implementing partner being TMA. The e-portal targeted importers and exporters of plant, plant materials, animal and animal product's, and agrichemicals in Rwanda.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text="THE ISSUE" font_container="tag:h3|text_align:center"][vc_column_text]Before the automation of the systems and process at RALIS, the old system was bureaucratic and not effective and efficient in serving the stakeholders and the general public because it was relatively slow in the process of applications and giving feedback, a lot of signatures were required and too much paper work was involved. All this in the long run were contributing to increasing the cost and time of doing business...