Edna Mudibo, a Kenyan smallscale trader in the border town of Busia who frequents Uganda, has found a renewed drive to carry on with her business and has ended years of cat and mouse games with police officers and border officials. This, thanks to a new initiative that further seeks to bolster trade relations between Kenya and Uganda. Unwilling to pass through the gazetted routes due to payment of duty, Edna, and many of her fellow traders would use clandestine but dangerous routes to ferry goods across the Kenyan-- Ugandan border. At times she would hire a man in a wheelbarrow to transport her goods through rough terrain, away from the main road network which would take her days to cross the Kenyan side. When she would bump into police officers who were doing random surveillance, they would confiscate all her goods, take the money she had and sometimes beat her. “It is a terrible experience and sometimes women do this because of lack of experience. Majority of women who used to take these routes would end up being even raped by these policemen,” she said. She is among over 20,000 small scale traders in Kenya and Uganda who are now growing their fortunes by freely trading across the border, thanks to the new one stop border posts. The initiative, which was unveiled in February, 2018 by Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, combines two national border controls into one reducing the time it takes to...

The coastal city of Mombasa experiences heavy rains and flooding several times a year. Whenever the rains pound this historic destination, the storm water causes havoc sometimes resulting in loss of human life and destruction of property. Despite the constant flow of the mighty Tana River into the Indian Ocean and the huge volumes of rain water that Mombasa receives annually, the city suffers a major deficit in water supply. The constant flooding and lack of water management systems poses a health hazard as well. Case in point, in May this year an outbreak of Cholera and other water borne diseases followed in the wake of flooding and heavy downpour. Large government institutions have not been spared from constant shortages as, The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) says it has never had enough water for use by either its workers, clients or general port users. Bernard Kyumbu, a frequent user of the port says many are the times he has been thoroughly embarrassed when he could not access sanitation facilities at the port, because they were locked. “I import cars and there have been times when after spending hours at the port waiting for clearance of containers and when the toilet facilities are shut down we are informed it is due to lack of water.” The Green Port Policy adopted by the port management with the support of TradeMark Africa (TMA) is expected, among other things, to address the issue of water harvesting, recycling, water purification, and sewerage treatment. Under the...

Situated 1,441 kilometres from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam lies a border post called Mutukula between Tanzania and Uganda, near the shores of Lake Victoria. Until very recently electricity was only provided on the Ugandan side, leaving many small businesses on the Tanzanian side literally in the dark. However, things on the Tanzanian side changed with the construction of a One Stop Border Post, which included a ten kilometre stretch of electricity towards Bunazi in Tanzania. Locals have seen this as a huge boost for development in the area including being able to provide electricity to vital services including schools and hospitals. A One Stop Border Post (OSBP) brings together immigration, customs and other government officials from the two countries under one roof, doing away with the need for trucks and persons to undergo clearance twice at both sides of the border. TradeMark Africa partnered with the governments of Tanzania and Uganda to construct a One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) to ease the movement of people and goods across the borders through reducing time and consequently cost incurred to cross the border. Mashaka Misapa is a barber from Mutukula village on the Tanzanian side. On 28 February 2014, the small border town was transformed when they were connected to the power grid which was being extended to the OSBP. "Before the construction of the OSBP, we had no electricity and we were forced to use a generator which consumed a lot of fuel and increased our costs, said the...

Elizabeth Marami did not really know what she was getting into, when she applied to become a marine captain through the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).  “It was not something that I was interested in as a kid, but I was always up for a challenge. When I got called in and I learnt what it was about I totally fell in love with the whole idea.”  Now Kenya’s first female marine pilot and a certified second officer, Elizabeth is the only woman out of 17 other trainee pilots at the port. At 26 years old, she is also among the younger people in her field. Neither this, nor the eight-hour days, or long months at sea, faze Elizabeth. She recalls spending one Christmas sailing to Saudi Arabia, in the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone network. “Such things make you really feel intimidated and for a split second you can question why you even chose to be here. But then you must know your end game. If you do, you can persevere and keep on going. If you are a go-getter you can achieve anything you want to achieve.” Still it requires something of an adjustment when Elizabeth first boards the ship and is the only woman in a crew of 50 - 100. “You have to fight for yourself to be perceived as equal. “ Thankfully, Elizabeth feels supported by her supervisors. “My superiors everywhere, even at the port have always been supportive of me. They said that...

TMA partnered with Uganda’s NUCAFE to invest in a coffee roasting machine. This enabled farmers to process coffee beans, ultimately increasing the value of their produce by 30% as compared to selling raw unprocessed beans. NUCAFE seeks to improve the lives of coffee farmers by promoting a farmer ownership model. The model holds that farmers should own their product throughout the value chain, from the coffee beans to the final export product. For a long time, farmers were only “custodians of coffee” says Joseph Nkandu the Executive Director of Nucafe, one of TMA’s partner in Uganda. They sold raw coffee to cooperatives, where it was de-husked, sorted and graded. At each stage of the value chain, the price of coffee increased but the growers only received payment for the minimum value at the first stage. In the 1990s, the Ugandan government liberalized the coffee industry meaning private buyers could now compete with cooperatives to buy raw coffee from farmers. By 1993, unable to compete, cooperatives collapsed, leaving farmers in disarray. Power of one To bridge the gap, NUCAFE undertook research that revealed farmers were largely ignorant of coffee beyond the trees in their farms. With the survey results, NUCAFE drew up a five-year strategic plan that centred on training and creating awareness amongst farmers. Organizing farmers into associations and cooperatives, followed, with the agreement that cooperatives would maximize income for members. And so, began the farmer owner business model which is changing the face of the Uganda coffee industry. Steps...

Kenya’s horticultural farmers are being trained in good agricultural practices. History has shown us the social and economic transformation that is possible when people can grow enough food. It has also confirmed that when the same people access markets to sell excess produce, generations will feel and enjoy the impacts. Thus, the ability to improve livelihoods is what makes agriculture a business and not just a development initiative. A group of Kenyan farmers are now demonstrating this by financially supporting their local community health centre.  Farmers from Kangai Horticulture Marketing Co-operative Society in Kirinyaga County, in the central region of Kenya, built a maternity wing and a laboratory in their local health centre with proceeds from the sale of string beans and baby corn. The enterprising group struck a deal with exporters, that for every kilo of produce sold, a shilling is invested in the hospital project. Currently, the health centre attends to 150 to 200 patients daily. “We receive services we couldn’t receive before, such as TB (tuberculosis) and CCC (Comprehensive Care Centre) for HIV and AIDS patients,” explains Mary Wambui, a technical adviser with a local fresh producer organisation, adding that the number of staff in the health centre has grown from 4 to 22. The hospital extension is Peter Kanyuiro Ngigi’s proud legacy, together with his Fresh Producers Association of Kenya (FPEAK) certificate. This certificate, he explains, has been the key to his ability to access international markets, a market that has in many occasions locked out...

If you wanted to transform 1,500 families in Tanzania, where would you start? How about with a cup of chocolate? By helping cocoa farmers in Tanzania access the market profitably, TMA’s Challenge Fund, beneficiary Kokoa Kamili is transforming their lives for the long term. 65 year old David Sanga lives in Mbingu Village in the Kilombero District of Tanzania and has grown cocoa for over ten years. Before every bean reaches the market, David must ensure that he has the right seedlings, that the trees are pruned, weeding done, the soil fertilised and the crop is free from pests for him to harvest a good crop. The crop should be delivered to collection centres which are set up for aggregation to ensure efficient access to markets. The buyers must offer him a competitive price for his cocoa beans for the practice to support his family. Thus, before the hot chocolate lands in your cup, there is a complex behind the scenes infrastructure that makes it possible. Kokoa Kamili is ensuring these behind the scenes activities benefit the farmers. Kokoa Kamili begun their project in Bingu in September 2014 after establishing that few cocoa buyers meant that local cocoa beans fetched poor prices comparative to other areas. The prices set by out-growers’ associations were also predetermined and non-negotiable. Transport costs to the collection points meant a further dip in farmers' profits. Poor seedlings affected the amount of produce down the line. Kokoa Kamili's mixed approach offers free collection services for wet...

It’s a long way from Makerere University in Uganda’s capital Kampala to the rural district of Yumbe, in the north-west of the country, bordering South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Approximately 600 KM. The two places are also separated by climate, topography and, significantly, socio-economic status. It’s fitting then, that they are drawn together by an exciting new enterprise started by Makerere academics, which they hope will bring income and employment to their northern compatriots. Makerere University is the oldest institution of higher learning in East Africa and has a prestigious reputation. It sits on top of one of Kampala’s hills, overlooking the city and is home to about 38,000 students including post-graduates. Standing tall over the campus is the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, which is responsible for the new project. It all started with the Food Technology and Business Incubation Centre (FTBIC), an arm of the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, which nurtures business start-ups. The FTBIC is funded by the government and is an attempt to link the academic subject with the real world. At the same time, the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering also houses FONUS (Food and Nutrition Solutions Ltd), a business providing consultancy from academic experts in the agriculture, nutrition and health sectors to local communities. In 2013, FONUS experts were in Yumbe District when they noticed the proliferation of mango trees growing wild. The trees were laden with growing fruit and the academics discovered that...

Co-operatives open opportunities for Rwanda cross-border traders. Driving south from Kigali to the Burundi border, you might think that Nemba is one of the luckier border towns in Rwanda. A good road connects its unusually quiet trading centre to the nation’s busy capital, and the journey lasts only an hour, unlike the winding, up-hill distances to other border towns. Surely no one in Nemba buying goods from Kigali to sell to Burundi, would have a hard time running a quick and easy cross-border business? Yet for women traders such as Benigne Maliboli, who sells a bottled local brew to Burundi, reduced transport costs to and from the capital did little to alleviate the gender-specific barriers to her cross-border trade.  Like many women traders, she lacked awareness of cross-border traders’ rights, rules and regulations as legislated by the East African Community. Today, thanks to TradeMark Africa (TMA) funded Rwandan NGO, Profemme/Twese Hamwe, the women know better. “We now know that there is someone at the border who can assist small-time cross-border traders, who gives us information we need about both sides of the border. Before, we were not aware that such services existed at the border,” Benigne Maliboli says of her newly formed co-operative. Many women traders purposefully do not register as such in order to bypass what they see as complications, and end up paying exorbitant bribes to keep their informal trade going. According to experts however, as informal as this trade is, it contributes significantly to the East African...

30-year-old Annie Nakizibu Mirembe has crossed borders in trade to market and expand her steel welding business. “I started doing it as a hobby because I love art and design. I never went to school to acquire this skill,” the graduate of Bachelor of Library and Information Science says of breaking barriers in the male-dominated steel welding world and attests to the opening up of markets in the East African Community. Ms. Mirembe employs six Ugandans and two Kenyans in her welding shop, based in Katwe, a Kampala suburb. As a cross border trader, Mirembe is no stranger to intra-regional trade challenges as just two weeks ago, she experienced a four day delay at the Malaba border as she shipped metal products to Kenya, “The system was down and no one explained. Such incidences make traders like us incur extra costs on accommodation and food and also delays our obligations to our clients.” She says. As a cross border trader, Mirembe is one of the few who grabbed the opportunities provided by EAC treaty and is already celebrating success. She has export clientele in Rwanda and Kenya and plans to enter the Burundi market in the near future.  The EAC Treaty states that the first stage of the integration would be the formation of a Customs Union with its primary objective being to facilitate inter and intra-regional trade in goods. “The trade system on the borders makes cross-border trade for small businesses like mine very fast and easy,” she says....