Global Affairs Canada (GAC) on May 17, 2024, met with TradeMark Africa (TMA) to take stock on CA$18 million partnership that has enhanced economic empowerment for women in trade and an inclusive trading environment at borders across East Africa. In a meeting led by TMA CEO Dave Beer, GAC Director General for Pan Africa Affairs, Sue Steffen, noted that Canada is taking a closer look at its interactions in Africa. 

“We recognise that the depth of our partnership with Africa runs deep. We are at a turning point with respect to our relationship and engagements on the continent in fast-evolving global dynamics. It is an interesting period at Global Affairs Canada in our development programming, and I am glad to note that TradeMark Africa is part of this ecosystem as a meaningful partner,” Ms. Steffen noted.

TMA CEO Mr. Beer expressed commitment to the partnership, which has enabled the organisations to create innovative solutions such as the iSOKO digital platform for small-scale traders, support efforts to formalise their businesses, and reaching over 200,000 traders’ voice and earning power in seven countries and across 30 border points.  

“Canada has been instrumental in building social inclusion into our core trade facilitation work, driving benefits for traders who are vulnerable to exploitation and exclusion from policy processes. We are now looking to apply this approach as we expand the scope of our support in West Africa,” he said.

To date, Canada has cumulatively provided over CA$30 million through TMA in East Africa to support women engaged in cross-border trade, support to the East African Community (EAC) to implement the Single Customs Territory (SCT) regime at Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports, and at various OSBPs. GAC support during COVID-19 through TMA’s SafeTrade  provided CA$3 million resulting in the construction of a safe market at Soko Posta in Busia enabling  formerly displaced  traders to re-engage, strengthened resilience for 10,000 farmers (half of whom were female) through training on post-harvest and climate smart technologies and linkages to more structured. This facilitated trade in over 10,000 metrics of grain. 

The iSOKO platform provides a free, one-stop-shop for cross-border traders, with market information, bookkeeping tools, and links to markets. It now has over 45,000 users across five countries in East Africa, and has almost 2,500 service providers, and 6,500 products uploaded.