Activities

Read about the key activities the Trade Hub has participated in.

January 20 Highlights
January 31, 2012, 5:29 pm

Business
Apparel stakeholders in Ghana, including manufacturers, buyers, government officials, banks and technical experts, outlined a plan to address their sector’s challenges with assistance from the USAID Trade Hub during a two-day workshop in Accra. Ghana possesses significant advantages – thanks to its AGOA eligibility – to compete in the international apparel industry. The meeting was organized by Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. www.agoatoolkit.com

The African Cashew Alliance has received a $232,000 grant from USAID. The new grant will help the ACA deliver technical assistance and launch the ACA quality and sustainability seal, a program that will help processors implement and document compliance with international food safety, quality and labor standards in their factories. Since its inception in 2006, the Alliance’s activities have directly led to a doubling of cashew processing in West Africa, creating thousands of jobs, mainly for young women. The Alliance was co-founded by the USAID Trade Hub. www.africancashewalliance.com

$50 million in cashew business could not have been done without the assistance of the African Cashew Alliance and the USAID Trade Hub, a major Brazilian cashew investor told more than 350 stakeholders during his keynote address at the Peanut and Treenut Association’s annual conference in Orlando, Florida. www.africancashewalliance.com

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration discussed the African Cashew Alliance’s Quality and Sustainability Seal, introduced last year, during meetings with the ACA’s Managing Director in Washington, D.C. www.africancashewalliance.com

Malian handcrafts producers finalized collections for the New York International Gift Fair and Ambiente with technical assistance from the USAID Trade Hub. www.africa-now.org

15 importers of home décor and fashion accessories in the U.S. will display the AfricaNow! logo in their booths at the New York International Gift Fair Jan. 28 to Feb. 2, linking buyers to the professional sourcing of handcrafts products that AfricaNow! offers. www.africa-now.org

The enhanced AGOA Resource Center in Burkina Faso led discussions on using AGOA to increase exports with the country’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Handcrafts, the management of the Salon International de l’Artisanat de Ouagadougou, the country’s export promotion agency, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Village Artisanal de Ouagadougou. www.agoatoolkit.com

Transport                                                                                                                                         
A Trade Hub verification tour on the Dakar-Bamako corridor confirmed checkpoints on the route and showed that an empty truck faces far less harassment than a full one. The truck staff accompanied was stopped at only 13 of the 36 reported checkpoints. A full truck of maize traveling in Mali was stopped at 11 of 15 checkpoints, however. Drivers paid 1,000 to 2,000 CFA ($2 to $4) in bribes per stop on the trips. www.borderlesswa.com/newsletter

The Ghana Revenue Authority has decreased the tax imposed on haulage trucks after companies complained about it. The Vehicle Income Tax was decreased by approximately 30% drop. The Borderless campaign has empowered stakeholders with information and support in advocating for lower costs and reduced delays in the transport industry. www.borderlesswa.com

Finance
The Trade Hub’s successful “cluster” finance scheme approach – innovated by the USAID Trade Hub to improve access to finance in the cashew sector – will be adapted to address challenges in Ghana’s apparel industry, stakeholders agreed at a two-day workshop in Accra. Working with stakeholders in Nigeria in 2011, the Trade Hub’s Cashew Cluster Finance Scheme effectively kept two cashew processing companies in operation. Securing appropriate funding will go a long way to addressing issues including building local technical capacity.



January 13 Highlights
January 18, 2012, 4:36 pm

Bono, the international recording artist, his wife and Edun founder Ali Hewson, and Renzo Rosso, the renowned founder of apparel brand, Diesel, visited bogolan producer in Mali with USAID Trade Hub Director Vanessa Adams.

16 consultants to major U.S. political parties learned about the issues affecting exporters’ competitiveness during visits to the Port of Tema in Ghana and companies in Accra, which were facilitated by the USAID Trade Hub.

Business
Handcrafts companies in Mali and Senegal received technical assistance in product development as they prepare for two upcoming international trade shows – the New York International Gift Fair (Jan. 28 to Feb. 2) and Ambiente, Europe’s largest home décor trade show held in Frankfurt, Germany (Feb. 10-14). AfricaNow! will present an informational booth at the shows to promote buyer tours and capacity building initiatives while importers that are members of the AfricaNow! network display new products. www.africa-now.org

The Global Shea Alliance and USAID Trade Hub facilitated a visit to Sekaf Ghana’s traditional handcrafted shea butter processing village with a ONE campaign organized group of political consultants to familiarize themselves with USAID West Africa’s value chain work in rural communities. Senyo Kpelly, the Managing Director said he is a Hub-trained shea expert and emphasized the support he has received from USAID in terms of training on quality, packaging, formulation and market linkages as well. They asked “how has all this impacted women’s income?” The leader of the women said they receive cash to pay school fees and other family needs and the work also keeps them busy.

The GSA is planning to undertake a shea quality improvement program in Northern Ghana and Benin. The Alliance traveled to five rural shea associations to begin collaborating with the women groups and start planning the training for next month.

Transport
The Government of Cote d’Ivoire has eliminated a Value Added Tax on imported new trucks and reduced customs duties on the vehicles from 51% to 21%. The changes were part of recommendations from the USAID Trade Hub to reinvigorate the country’s transport industry. Reducing the taxes will lead to more investment and important upgrades in the nation’s 12,000 vehicle trucking fleet. www.borderlesswa.com

Business Environment
The Border Information Center helped traders resolve a tense claim of harassment that led to spoilage in a shipment of peppers. The BIC staff worked with officials and the traders to resolve the dispute at the Ghana-Togo border. The center opened in August and is hosted by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority and the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization. www.borderlesswa.com



January 6 Highlights
January 18, 2012, 4:33 pm

U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham, John Thune, John Barrasso, Mike Johanns, Kay Hagan, and Richard Burr and U.S. Representative Kay Granger learned more about the USAID Trade Hub’s work during a presentation by Trade Hub Director Vanessa Adams at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana. After the presentation, the Members of Congress and their spouses visited a showcase of exporters’ products and exhibits on key aspects of the Trade Hub’s work to develop winning products for international markets, reduce the costs of transport, build industry alliances and improve the utilization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

32 Executive MBA students at the George Washington University School of Business learned about the USAID Trade Hub’s work across West Africa during a visit to Ghana.

Business
Four Trade Hub-assisted handcrafts companies in Ghana are producing home décor pieces for Pier One Imports, one of America’s largest handcrafts retail chains. The orders were generated by a Trade Hub-facilitated buyer tour to Ghana in 2011 – the first the company has undertaken in several years. The Trade Hub further made the deal possible by linking the coordinating company – Fritete – with the Grassroots Business Fund to obtain secure low-cost financing. www.africa-now.org

Angelique Kidjo, the Grammy award-winning international pop star from Benin and Africa’s “premiere diva,” according to Time magazine, is supporting Shea 2012: Shared Value, the Trade Hub-organized annual shea industry event. Kidjo is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and an outspoken proponent of women’s economic empowerment. Shea 2012 will bring more than 350 industry stakeholders to Cotonou, Benin, April 23-27. Online registration will begin January 16. www.globalshea.com/shea2012

10 importers and affiliates of the Trade Hub-managed AfricaNow! network are set to participate in the New York International Gift Fair Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 in New York City. The event draws tens of thousands of professional buyers. AfricaNow! will have a showcase exhibit with Trade Hub support.

Transport
Mali’s national police service has ordered officers not to take bribes, acknowledge the validity of the ECOWAS Brown Card insurance scheme, maintain 24-hour service at the Mali-Senegal border and improve cooperation with other uniformed services in efforts to increase trade with Senegal and reduce costs and delays along the country’s roads and highways. The policy directive grew out of a Mali-Senegal meeting involving both countries’ prime ministers in May 2011 co-sponsored by the USAID Trade Hub, USAID PCE project in Senegal and USAID IICEM project in Mali. www.borderlesswa.com



November 25 Highlights
November 25, 2011, 2:16 pm

Business
A new cashew processor launched activities in Benin and two additional factories are expected to come online in the next month. Benin stakeholders discussed the developments during a meeting organized by the African Cashew Alliance, co-founded by the Trade Hub in 2006, where stakeholders agreed on statutes and bylaws for the new Benin ACA National Committee, which will be launched in November. In September, Benin will host the 2012 ACA Annual Conference. www.africancashewalliance.com

Declines in orders at apparel manufacturers in Asian and Southeast Asian countries may bode well for West African apparel companies. Manufacturers in China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Vietnam reported significant drops in orders. But an overall decline in orders from the U.S. market is worrying news, the Trade Hub’s apparel advisor said.

AfricaNow! is now tweeting news on the West African home décor and accessories sector. The AfricaNow! Twitter feed is @AfricaNowDecor – follow AfricaNow! for the latest on new products from West Africa’s amazing artisans, market trends in the home décor sector and updates on the international trade shows where the Trade Hub promotes West African home décor and accessories! www.africa-now.org

Transport
Over twenty business leaders of regional companies in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo meeting in Accra at the Borderless Alliance Stakeholders Forum, a regional coalition advocating for increased trade in West Africa. The CEOs, business leaders of some of the region’s largest companies, called on ECOWAS and her Member States to increase efforts to fully implement the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme in order to reduce delays and harassment. The Chief Director of Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry applauded the launch of the Alliance and said government would support its efforts and seek to implement its proposals.

150 drivers and 31 key transport stakeholders from the private and public sectors learned more about the state of road governance across West Africa and in Ghana specifically during a Borderless road show in Tema, site of the country’s primary port. The event included representatives of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Ghana’s Police, Immigration Service, Customs, Highway Authority, National Road Safety, and Port Authority, State Insurance Company, drivers’ unions, as well as freight forwarders, shippers from Burkina Faso and Niger, and Malian transporters. Participants raised concerns about illegal imprisonment of drivers and harassment of foreign drivers, numerous customs checkpoints on the Tema-Ouagadougou corridor, lack of parking/rest stops at the port and along the corridor and the unreliability of the weighbridge at Tema port.

Finance
The Nigerian Export-Import Bank has pledged to commit $2.5 million for loans for new investment and $200,000 for working capital after a workshop to review the Nigeria Cashew Cluster Finance Scheme, an innovation of the Trade Hub and the African Cashew Alliance. Ecobank, West Africa’s largest bank, also committed support to the scheme’s expansion. Of the three cashew processors targeted for assistance, two obtained loans in 2011 that effectively preserved over 300 jobs.



September 1 Highlights
October 3, 2011, 12:34 pm

Business
Two home décor companies from Mali and Senegal participated under the AfricaNow! brand in the summer edition of Maison et Objet, one of Europe’s premiere home décor shows held in Paris, France. Galerie Arte Dakar and Farafina Tigne exhibited their handmade furniture and home décor products at the show, which attracts buyers from around the world. The show connects African producers to buyers at high-end boutiques, a market segment that can be leveraged to increase the companies’ production capacity because purchase volumes are low but significant. www.africa-now.org

Ghana must protect and promote its shea and cashew trees – the government’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture consulted stakeholders to leverage their expertise for its effort to promote perennial crops. The African Cashew Alliance and the Global Shea Alliance, co-founded by the USAID Trade Hub and stakeholders across Africa and around the world, provided input to the government’s draft policy. www.africancashewalliance.com www.globalshea.com

The African Cashew Alliance, the Cashew Nut Board of Tanzania and the Cashew Nut Processors Association of Tanzania signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a public-private partnership to develop the cashew sector in Tanzania. The MOU will facilitate sharing of knowledge among partners and the exchange of best practices between East and West Africa. Eastern and Southern Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique) process about 30% of their cashew harvest, much more than in West Africa, which ranges from 5% to 8%. West African stakeholders hope to learn from their counterparts in the other regions to achieve this volume. www.africancashewalliance.com

Two Nigerian cashew processing companies are operating – employing 150 people – after receiving technical assistance from the African Cashew Alliance under a grant from the Trade Hub. Previously, assistance from the ACA and the Trade Hub had helped the companies obtain financing that allowed them to purchase about 500 tons of raw cashew nuts.

Transport
In the event of an accident, drivers in Togo must obtain a report from the National ECOWAS Brown Card office before they can recover their vehicle’s title and other documents that Togolese authorities will have seized after the accident, the Trade Hub learned in the course of preparing the Truck Drivers’ Guide to Togo. The document is modeled on the popular Truck Drivers’ Guide to Ghana and will be published by the Trade Hub and Togo’s National Transport and Transit Facilitation Committee. www.borderlesswa.com

Business Environment
19 officials in Ghana and Togo expressed full support for an “Express Lane” at the two countries’ busiest border crossing in order to reduce delays and increase trade – a key innovation recommended by the USAID Trade Hub in its study of gaps in the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme. The officials worked with the USAID Trade Hub to assess and plan the Express Lane at the countries’ border at Aflao (Ghana) and Kodjoviakope (Togo). The innovation would reduce delays at the border for duty-free goods intended for regional markets and ECOWAS Preferred Traders. Agents from both countries’ police, immigration, customs, standards boards, food and drug regulation and plant and animal inspection services participated in the assessment and said they fully support the innovation. www.borderlesswa.com



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