Comesa e-commerce platform to ease regional trade barriers

The Comesa Federation of Women in Business and the African e-Trade Group (Ae-Trade) have launched an online platform Sokokuu for traders in the regional bloc.

The platform will enable traders to conduct cross-border trade using information technology to minimise physical barriers. Sokokuu is Swahili for big market.

The platform enables manufacturers and suppliers in different member states to share information on their potential to produce and supply products.

Sokokuu will complement existing platforms such as the womenconnect, which is used by women entrepreneurs in regional states to exchange information on the availability of essential products within the region.

Two other Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) institutions, such as the Comesa Business Council and the African Leather and Leather products) have already signed memoranda of understanding with Ae-Trade to implement the Sokokuu platform.

The AeTrade is a multi-stakeholder group of African professionals and business owners with a vision to develop and implement an e-empowerment programme, which will enhance intra-and inter-African trade.

The group brings together public and private sector partners to develop projects that leverage the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the benefit of entrepreneurs in Africa.

Speaking at the launch, during the Second Comesa Federation of Women in Business Annual Regional Trade Fair in Lusaka, secretary-general Chileshe Kapwepwe underlined the role of ICT in enhancing regional integration.

“Four years ago, Comesa decided to shift focus to promote digital economic integration and adopted the theme towards digital economic integration,” she said.

“The decision was based on the understanding that the region stood on the brink of a new industrial revolution, driven by new-generation information technologies.”

The adoption of the Digital Free Trade Area sought to reinforce the implementation of the Free Trade Area, which was launched in October 2000 to facilitate Comesa regional integration.

It is aimed at empowering traders to do cross-border trade using ICT as a tool to minimise physical barriers and provide the necessary infrastructure for enhancement of global trade.

It is on this account that the Comesa has embraced Sokokuu as a valuable tool, especially in the Covid- 19 pandemic era, which has restricted physical contact.

Comesa Federation of Women in Business chief executive Ruth Negash reiterated the importance of creating an enabling environment to support the adoption of e-commerce by ensuring women and girls’ full access to ICTs, including digital devices and services.

Other organisations represented at the forum included the African Union, the United Nations Develop Programmes, the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and Ae-Trade Group.