Kenyan SMEs land sponsorship for participation at EAC trade fair

Kenya will sponsor more than 200 micro and small enterprises in the East African Community MSMEs trade fair scheduled for next December in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Through Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA) under the Trade ministry, the authority will adopt a product development programme, dubbed One Constituency One Product.

The first phase of the programme will target specific products produced within the 139 refurbished Constituency Industrial Development Centres, which were built and equipped with tools for value-addition.

Businesses have not fully occupied some of these centres. The authority will collaborate with counties to identify products made in the devolved units that pass the mark of quality.

The EAC exhibition aims to support 800 companies from the six partner states to develop new regional channels and increase their market reach.

“The authority will facilitate MSEs to access markets. Further to the linkages, in order to improve the quality of MSE products and make them more competitive, it is implementing a product development programme.

“ The value-added products will then be marketed both locally and internationally,” said MSEA chief executive Henry Rithaa.

The 21st trade fair comes after the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on January 1, linking EAC to the single market with 1.2 billion consumers and worth $2.5 trillion (Sh270.5 trillion).

Only five countries — Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda — have deposited their ratification of the AfCFTA.

“To enhance the productive capacity of domestic producers and exporters, there is a need for a coordinated EAC-wide approach towards intra-regional trade.

“This will also serve to mitigate the economic and social challenges brought about by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic,” said Trade PS Johnson Weru.