Browsing: Trade barriers

AfCFTA

The AfCFTA progress towards full implementation

Industry and Trade

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is now widely touted as the African Union’s (AU) most audacious project. The framework ties together the most significant number of member countries of any trade agreement since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995.

The AfCFTA had become topical even before its formal launch. Members of the business community eagerly awaited the full implementation of the AfCFTA. But two years since its formal launch, how far has the AfCFTA ushered in the ‘new era’ of African integration it promised?…

A panel discussion on AfCFTA.

Eswatini, Zimbabwe sharpen skills to trade under AfCFTA

Africa
  • Key staff in Eswatini and Zimbabwe have gained critical skills on how to harness Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
  • The training will be rolled out in Kenya, Seychelles, Rwanda, and DRC starting June, this year. It is critical for helping businesses identify and compare emerging opportunities in Africa.
  • The programme equips staff with integrated and reliable trade intelligence on international market performance and opportunities as well as market access conditions.

Staff from over 80 companies and public agencies in Eswatini and Zimbabwe have gained critical skills on how to harness opportunities under Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The training was undertaken by the African Trade Observatory, one of the five operational instruments of AfCFTA charged with driving intra regional trade of small businesses.

The online dashboard is critical for helping businesses identify and compare emerging opportunities across the continent. It provides integrated and reliable trade intelligence on international …

Unravelling Africa’s unfair Fair Trade mystery

Industry and Trade

Fair trade is a fairy tale that belongs in a children’s fiction book. Just think—a fair playing ground is what every mom and pop shop has been crying for, for years. Yet every waking day, their tears fall on deaf ears, they seem to constantly draw the short end of the stick while the competition always gets the better deal.

To unravel this unfair ‘fair trade’ mystery, you have to first understand who or what the competition is. What makes the playing ground so uneven and how do you tip things in favour of small business?

Did you catch that? To even the field, you have to favour one side. Let us bring things into perspective here. Small businesses are being boxed out of businesses by multi-national corporations. These monstrosities of strategized mergers feed on one thing: takeovers.

Either they buy you out or you will, sooner than later, close…

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