Global Shea Alliance participates at in-cosmetics, trains women in Ghana

The Global Shea Alliance, co-founded by the USAID Trade Hub in 2011, participated at the In-Cosmetics international trade show and the Union for Ethical Bio Trade conference in Paris, distributing more than 100 annual reports and membership directories to shea butter distributers, brands, and development agencies from around the world.

AGOA opened the U.S. to  duty-free sale of more than 6,000 items (tariff lines) from African nations provided those countries conduct free and fair elections. Products from West Africa that have utilized the program include textiles, apparel, agricultural products such as cashews and shea butter as well as oil and gas.

In the 1990s, international handcrafts buyers included Côte d’Ivoire on their itineraries when they came to West Africa. But the country’s long civil war in the 2000s decimated that economic activity. Thanks to collaboration between the Ministry of Trade, the Côte d’Ivoire Export Promotion Agency (APEX-CI) and the USAID Trade Hub – supported by the USAID Business Environments for Agile Markets – buyers are returning.

Traveling in West Africa to source handcrafts and import those products is full of challenges. I don’t have to tell those who have been there, how difficult logistics alone can be as you attempt to uncover the artistic talent. That talent is abundant, but very difficult to find when you are on your own (and trying to work in your broken French!).

 

Featuring an interview with Paul Brenton, the World Bank’s Trade Practice Manager for Africa, and a review of the success of the USAID Trade Hub’s access to finance strategy, the USAID Trade Hub’s monthly newsletter, Tradewinds, was delivered to more than 12,000 subscribers. www.watradehub.com/tradewinds

The Ministry of Commerce, Handcrafts and the Promotion of Artisians, APEX-CI and AfricaNow! are hosting a buyers' exhibit and 3-day tour in Côte d’Ivoire.

Contact eodonkor [at] watradehub [dot] com for more information.

www.africa-now.org

The Port of Dakar has identified an office to host a Port Information Center in Senegal modeled on the USAID Trade Hub-supported Border Information Centers now operating at the Ghana-Togo, Burkina Faso-Ghana and Benin-Nigeria borders.

Often, intermediaries in value chains are viewed with disdain, as a necessary evil, and often derogatorily referred to as “middlemen.” But in West Africa’s handcrafts sector, export agents who connect producers to buyers – and coordinate and facilitate orders – are critical to the industry’s viability.

Business
The Global Shea Alliance has released a draft of its sustainability strategy for the shea industry as it prepares for the sixth industry annual conference March 4-6 in Abuja, Nigeria. The conference has already surpassed $100,000 in sponsorship support. The strategy places women’s livelihoods as its central focus and is available online at www.globalshea.com.