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.

 

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.

AfricaNow! Handcrafts Exporters Workshop held at SIAO 2012

87 handcrafts producers and exporters from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo participated in the USAID Trade Hub-supported AfricaNow! three-day handcrafts exporters workshop at the Salon International de l’Artisanat de Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. The workshop was supported by the USAID BEAM project as well.

Business
USAID Trade Hub Business and Finance Director Roger Brou and Specialty Food Advisor Makhtar Thiam visited 13 Burkinabe specialty food companies to assist Burkina Faso’s Chamber of Commerce in selecting companies to participate in the upcoming Natural Products Expo East, Sept. 19-22, 2012 in Baltimore. The team was assisted by the AGOA Resource Center coordinator and addressed issues pertaining to product selection, packaging and labeling, food safety, and U.S. food regulation requirements.

Smiling broadly, Mame K. Diene caught the eye of a passerby glancing at the baobab poster over her head.

“Hi! Do you know about baobab?” she asked for the dozenth time in the last half-hour, holding out a small cup of baobab smoothie. “It’s wonderful, the new superfruit. Magnesium, potassium, six times the antioxidants of blueberries. So good for the heart! Here, try it…”
 

African Cashew Alliance opens online registration for its 7th annual conference as first West African processor is awarded the Alliance's Quality and Safety Seal

Registration is now open for “The Future is Now!”, the 7th annual conference of the African Cashew Alliance, Sept.

Borderless: Business Environment
Ghana’s Customs Service will rehabilitate a parking lot at the Ghana-Togo border in Aflao that will serve as an “express lane,” the service said in meetings with the USAID Trade Hub. Long delays at the border are a barrier to trade, significantly reducing trade along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, USAID Trade Hub studies show. www.borderlesswa.com

From December 2011 to March 2012, the USAID Trade Hub facilitated $15.9 million in exports from West Africa’s apparel, cashew, shea, handcrafts, and specialty foods sectors, creating 2,065 jobs (1,085 filled by women). The Trade Hub launched three new AGOA Resource Centers during that period in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Niger, with partners at the chambers of commerce in each country, taking the total to 19 across the region providing businesses with practical information on trade and investment.