Renewed Drive To Improve Uptake of Standards Offers Fresh Hope to MSMEs
“They are not TBS standards. They are the people’s standards,” Ms. Kezia Mbwambo, the Director of Quality Management at the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) begins by setting the record straight. Ms. Mbwambo feels it is very important to address the constraint of a misguided public perception about standards and their uses. She does not […]
East African and international political leaders and financial experts highlight sustainable investment best practice
The Secretary General of East African Community today joined more than 150 African business leaders, financial experts and diplomats in the Nairobi EU-Africa Green Talk to share investment best practice and outline how to mobilise private sector support for sustainable development across Africa. “Recent innovative investment across East Africa has transformed access for millions of […]
The Update- June 2020 Issue
SUPPORTING SAFE TRADE IN KENYA TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) and the European Union signed a €5 million agreement to support the Safe Trade Emergency Facility being implemented by TMEA in the region. The funds from the European Union will fund the Kenyan component of the programme making the EU the largest donor to the programme. […]
Cutting red tape for resilient trade, one procedure at a time
Simplification works. Exporters, and importers of fresh or dry produce to Kenya are required to register with Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). Until recently, this registration took between 10 to 28 days with the traders completing a total of 10 steps and filling in 13 documents. A time-consuming effort that was also costly. Simplification […]
Building bold businesswomen, one at a time
The Editorial of Burundi’s Jimbere Magazine recently remarked that the TradeMark Africa (TMA) Women in Trade programme has, “Offered hundreds of Burundian women and girls the opportunity to learn and achieve their dreams. It has restored their pride in earning incomes, enabling them to become taxpayers and therefore contribute to the development of the country. Before […]
COVID-19 accelerates greater trade coordination in East Africa
It took a traffic jam of a couple thousand trucks at the Malaba border between Kenya and Uganda to fully visualize both the health and trade issues at stake when borders operate at optimum.The COVID-19 crisis has revealed both hairline fractures along borders in East Africa and the potential to solve them through better regional […]
Fast Track compliance programme a boon for businesses in Uganda
Authorised Economic Operator programme earns rewards for traders For business owners, time is money and delays that hold up delivery of goods represent loss of potential earnings. In Uganda, an AEO programme funded by United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) through TradeMark Africa (TMA) is helping businesses overcome delays by encouraging voluntary compliance. Richard […]
Supporting Rwanda farmers to reduce losses and access markets
For many farmer cooperatives across Rwanda, especially those that farm staple crops, access to finance has always been an issue and this is complicated by post-harvest losses that discourage finance providers from investing in agriculture. Positively, the government of Rwanda is undertaking improvement in infrastructure such as cold storage facilities, road and air transport to […]
Brewing Tea Trade In One Click
Like many Kenyans, George Adulu an Information Technology (IT) professional from Nairobi, religiously takes a hot cup of tea with his breakfast, paying homage to an age-old Kenyan tradition. Tea is a breakfast staple, a ten o’clock break beverage and a night cap. Many households brew it with milk and water until it acquires a […]