In the Business Think Tank today, Smart24 TV’s Kamweya Tushabe will encourage our panel of experts to talk about the ‘Economic Contribution of Women in Informal Cross-border Trading’.

The panelists are:

Jane Nalunga, the executive director of SEATINI

Jacob Siminyu, the spokesperson of the ministry of Internal Affairs

Connie Kihembo, the CEO of Uganda Women Entrepreneurs Association Limited (UWEAL)

Sarah Jesca Agwang, programme coordinator (Women’s Economic Justice and Empowerment) at Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET)

Sheila Kawamara, the chief executive of EASSI ( The Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women.

Follow this link to watch the event live

Before Covid-19, Uganda enjoyed a booming cross-border informal trade, 80% of which was being done by women as their sole source of income.

Research by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), (2018) notes that informal cross-border trade is still rampant at over 40% of all intra-regional trade

Over the past decade, increasing the participation of women in cross-border trade has been a key focus area for stakeholders in trade, including the Government, through the ministries of trade and the East African Community affairs and development partners, including TradeMark Africa (TMA), USAID and the Eastern African Sub Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women.

Policies have been instituted to increase the participation of informal cross-border women traders to boost their incomes, improve living standards, and contribute to the country’s overall economic development.

Data from the Bank of Uganda (BOU) indicates that informal cross-border exports fetched the country a total of $595m (about sh2.8 trillion) in the 2017/18 financial year. The Democratic Republic of Congo was Uganda’s leading export destination, accounting for $291m (sh1.3 trillion).

It was followed by Kenya with $149m (sh691b) worth of exports, Rwanda, and South Sudan at $54m (sh250b) each, then Tanzania at $45m.

In July 2018, the Minister of Trade launched the URA Women Traders’ Initiative in Busia with an intention to address challenges faced by women traders and to assimilate gender impartiality in the reforms and modernization agenda. This instrument has provided a comprehensive and all-encompassing approach to trade facilitation, with a feminine touch.

Thus far, 34 associations of Women Cross Border Traders have been established with a sounding membership of over 5,032 members.

At the core of the framework is simplification of customs clearance processes and procedures as well as building working relationships with women traders to foster a better business environment.

To further ease their trade processes, desks specifically dedicated to serving women have been set up at five One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) i.e. Malaba, Busia, Elegu, Mutukula and Mirama Hills.

This dedicated service has led to a remarkable reduction in the time women in trade at the border take to receive URA services and to have their goods cleared.

Free storage facilities for the small scale women traders who in the past couldn’t meet storage costs have also been availed.

Panelist: One of the ways of addressing the challenges that women informal cross boarder traders encounter is through undertaking research that informs policies and programmes that address their challenges as well as advance them to being formal.

Therefore there is need to have empirical data and facts on women’s engagement in regional cross border trade.

According to a recent survey by EASSI, (42%) women informal cross border traders are trading agricultural
products.

This was common practice at most border posts except Kanyaru border where the women mainly traded in textiles, according to the study. The other major tradeables across borders were textiles (21.5%) and consumables (18.5%).

However, among border posts the order varied as most had women trading mainly in consumables except Kanyaru and Namanga borders where textiles were more important.

On average 39% of women are weekly traders while 28% and 27% traded across borders daily and monthly respectively.

It was noted that 46% of women informal cross border traders lived in detached houses while 43% were in tenements (muzigo). However, at Busia and Namanga border posts most of these women were living in tenements.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.