From left: David Mulder, Intertek business development manager Africa, Charles Gachai, Kenya Bureau of Standards acting MD, and Tradegood CEO Paul Yao during the launch of the firm’s operations in Kenya at a Nairobi hotel November 19. SALATON NJAU
What you need to know:
Tradegood has teamed up with Intertek in a drive to connect East African traders to a global network of reputable importers and exporters.
The Tradegood portal keeps critical records of suppliers and importers, allowing them to interact easily and accomplish transactions fairly fast.
The portal enables traders to source for items directly, prequalify suppliers and trace a production chain for any product.
Global e-commerce company, Tradegood, has launched its operations in Kenya, hoping to ride on the current logistical nightmares to hook East African traders to its system.
The company has teamed up with London-headquartered Intertek in a drive to connect the region’s traders to a global network of reputable importers and exporters that use its web portal.
The Tradegood portal — modelled on the format of China’s Alibaba.com — keeps critical records of suppliers and importers, allowing them to interact easily and accomplish transactions fairly fast.
To be listed at the portal, the supplier has to provide information about the firm’s capacity and meet all the pre-export (import) requirements, complete with certification for quality, safety, environmental and social audits.
For buyers, verified background information like credit history, physical location and company registration are provided.
“I believe this portal has the ability to give East African products global visibility even as it opens the region’s first growing markets to exports from other parts of the world,” Tradegood CEO Paul Yao said in Nairobi on Tuesday.
The portal, he added, enables traders to source for items directly, prequalify suppliers and trace a production chain for any product.
“We are taking every step to get the region’s traders on board even if that means creating the East African section of the portal,” said Mr Yao In the partnership, the FTSE-listed Intertek relies on its global network testing laboratories to provide inspection, product testing and company certification, officials said.
Standard bodies in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have previously hired services of Intertek to certify products imported into the region under the Pre-export Verification of Conformity (PVoC).
Globally, more than 3,000 suppliers and 100,000 importers have registered to use the Tradegood facility since it was launched in 2011. None of these firms is from East Africa, Mr Yao said.
The campaign to link the region to the rest of the world comes against a backdrop of rising concerns that sub-Saharan Africa’s share of global trade continues to drop despite sustained high growth.
Logistical challenges
While the region has maintained growth momentum of more than five per cent in the last five years, its share of global trade has dropped from three to one per cent over the period.
Even as a bloc, the level of intra-Africa trade remains at 12 per cent compared to about 60 per cent in West Europe. Experts have cited logistical challenges and poor infrastructure among barriers that hurt trade among African states.
Mr Charles Gichahi, the acting Kenya Bureau of Standards managing director, blamed traders for contributing delays by importing goods that have not been certified at the country of origin.
“We are planning to levy fines on goods that arrive at the port without PVoC because they are forcing our officers to do afresh what should be done by our agents at the countries of origin,” he said.
