Rwanda Private Sector Federation receives US$2.26 Million from TMA to support private sector and women entrepreneurs
Kigali, 23 May 2019: Today, TradeMark Africa (TMA) and Rwanda’s trade body, the Private Sector Federation (PSF) announced a new Public-Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for trade and investment programme and support to women entrepreneur’s programme. TMA will fund both programmes with US$2.26 Million over a period of four years. The two organisations made the announcement […]
TradeMark Africa supports public private dialogue in Tanzania to boost Tanzania’s competitiveness
Dar es salaam June 3rd 2019 – TradeMark Africa (TMA) and Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) have today signed a grant agreement to support Public Private Dialogue (PPD) in Tanzania. The three years grant amounting USD 1,190,000 (equivalent to TZS 2.7 billion) is expected to end in June 2022. The grant is expected to improve sectoral […]
TMA and MINICOM roll out programmes to improve Rwanda’s business environment and help local businesses compete internationally
Kigali, 19 June 2019: TradeMark Africa (TMA) has committed to fund Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry with USD 11.2Million in support of programmes that will improve Rwanda’s regulatory environment to reduce barriers to trade. The funding has been provided by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and United States Agency for International Development […]
Electronic Single Window Business Models
The first Electronic Single Window (eSW) was introduced in Singapore in the late 1980’s. The Singapore TradeNet links multiple parties involved in external trade, including 34 government agencies, to a single point of transaction for most trade related transaction such as Customs clearance and payment of duties and taxes, processing of export and import permits […]
Can improved trade facilitation help tackle poverty?
Despite the benefits that trade facilitation initiatives such as the introduction of an eSW may yield for a wide range of stakeholders including clearing agents, importers and exporters and government agencies, like most trade reforms, the links between these types of investments and poverty reduction are not so clearly defined. A recent study (Shepherd, 2014) […]
Enhancing delivery of export adviser service – The Case of Export Advisers in Rwanda
1 BACKGROUND African countries are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of developing trade capacity in order to achieve effective participation in the regional and world trading system and to reap the full benefits of improved access to these markets (World Bank). There is wide recognition that capacity building and training are prerequisites to economic […]
The EAC Elimination of NTB Act – A review of landmark legislation
The NTB Act aims to give effect to the second clause under Article 13 of the Customs Union, by establishing a legal mechanism for identifying and monitoring the removal of NTBs. The NTB Act provides as follows: According to interviews, the NTB Act, whose development was supported by TMA, is generally well regarded by NMC […]
Rules of Origin – Challenges in resolving NTBs
The purpose of the EAC Rules of Origin is to implement the provisions of Article 14 of the Customs Union Protocol – setting out criteria for distinguishing between goods produced within the EAC and, therefore, eligible for EAC preferential treatment against those produced outside the EAC customs territory that attract duties specified in the CET […]
The SMS reporting system impacting informal traders, including women
Africa is at the centre of a mobile technology revolution which is already benefiting traditionally disadvantaged groups. According to interviews, SMS appears to be the most preferred means for informal traders to report NTBs. Although there exists online NTB reporting systems at the national level in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania utilizing SMS, as well as […]
“Growing for (and with) the Business” by Susan Mukankubana
I was appointed as the managing director of Top Freight before I ever worked in the freight forwarding business or received any training in this business. I had no knowledge of clearing and forwarding, I had just completed my bachelor’s in marketing. We had few clients. I did not know how to advise them well […]