Editors Desk
"Africa Trades into the Future.."
Five thousand delegates and more than a thousand exhibitors descended on the Intra-African Trade Fair, in Durban, South Africa, aimed at boosting investment and trade across the continent. The theme was the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area – a single market for goods and services among 1.3 billion population Africans across 55 countries.
“A visionary,” was how the president of Afreximbank Benedict O. Oramah described our chairman and former South African finance minister Nhlanlha Nene when they met at the conference.
“He was the first finance minister to sign off on the idea of the AfCFTA – he saw it.”
Nhlanhla Nene (left) Benedict Oramah
Moses Antobrah from Ghana
A part time job started 15 years ago has become a labour of love for Moses Antobrah, an entrepreneur for Accra, Ghana.
His company Debbie’s Products Limited has customers and distribution outlets in several West African countries, including Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo and Benin.
One of his major international export markets is the US, where buyers are finding profitable outlets for some of his black soap products.
He attended the IntraAfrican Trade Fair hoping to find markets within Africa for a product aligned with the populations and cultures across borders within Africa. employs 128 people at the moment.
Saidi Hitimani from Rwanda
Giving people the boot comes naturally to some, but for Saidi Hitimana of Rwanda it’s a daily business prospect.
This 30-year old entrepreneur from Kigali has spotted a gap in the manufacturing and provision of emergency and military clothing and apparel in Africa.
His company Africa Uniforms started making uniforms and clothing for police, safety and emergency workers in 2016.
He has so far established branches in 6 countries outside of Rwanda, including Ethiopia, DRC, Kenya, Botswana and Lesotho.
As an entrepreneur in Africa, his message to buyers on the continent is that inexpensive clothing goods need not be imported from China.
Hisseine Camara from Chad
Giving people the boot comes naturally to some, but for Saidi Hitimana of Rwanda it’s a daily business prospect.
This 30-year old entrepreneur from Kigali has spotted a gap in the manufacturing and provision of emergency and military clothing and apparel in Africa.
His company Africa Uniforms started making uniforms and clothing for police, safety and emergency workers in 2016.
He has so far established branches in 6 countries outside of Rwanda, including Ethiopia, DRC, Kenya, Botswana and Lesotho.
As an entrepreneur in Africa, his message to buyers on the continent is that inexpensive clothing goods need not be imported from China.
