Category: Business

The Acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Antonio Pedro stressed the role of ECA together with its partners in rescuing the SDGs and accelerating the implementation of the African Union Agenda 2063.

The Acting Executive Secretary made remarks yesterday while opening the 2023 Second Quarter Accountability and Program Performance Review Meeting (APPRM) with an emphasis on the need for urgency in meeting the twin agendas – 2030 and 2063.

He also emphasized the need for “proactive and adaptive responses in a changing global environment,” calling on staff to “respond to new and emerging challenges through innovative and creative approaches.”

He reiterated that accelerating the implementation of the AfCFTA in promoting economic transformation and inclusive diversified growth; addressing the challenges of climate change, green economy and energy transition as well as strengthening macroeconomic policies and governance are the major strategic tracks of the ECA.

These tracks must be buttressed by an ECA theory of change with clear value propositions and comparative advantage in order to achieve the agreed strategic objectives, he pointed out.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The 22nd edition of the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair will take place from 25 August until 02 September 2023 under the theme ‘Embracing a Sustainable Economy Linking Smart Markets.’

The trade fair is expected to host over 450 exhibitors from diverse sectors of the economy, including from the private sector and informal trading sector.

Ongwediva Town Council spokesperson Jackson Muma told Nampa preparation is underway, with security measures already put in place to curb crime during the fair.

“We have hired local security companies to ensure the safety of the exhibitors and visitors during the fair,” he said.

The guards are expected to work around the clock from 25 August until 02 September, and 80 guards will be on duty per shift.

Muma noted that they are expected to host an intra-African trade symposium which will serve as a forum to connect participants interested in exploring trading opportunities within the African continent.

He stressed that the symposium will also educate participants about the specifics of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), including its policies, regulations, and potential benefits for businesses across Africa.

Oshakati resident Martha Erick said the outbreak of coronavirus has seen the closure of many businesses and loss of employment and welcomed the trade fair as a platform for marketing, networking and trading.

“At least this will help us recover from the hard-hit COVID-19 affected economy,” she said.

She emphasised that the platform will also assist her in connecting with the appropriate farmers and expanding her network of contacts in order to improve her backyard garden.

Source: NAMPA

Industrialists have decried limited warehousing facilities in the country, saying they hurt investment and slowed the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Led by Chandaria Properties Founder and Managing Partner Darshan Chandaria, they said warehousing remains critical in the industry and called on entrepreneurs to exploit the gap. The Industrialists said the limited storage spaces, coupled with the high cost of establishing their own facilities, were a challenge to SMEs as they impeded investment and the growth of industries. Speaking during the ground breaking ceremony of the Link, a multi-million state-of-the-art SME warehousing and logistics park in Tatu City, Kiambu County On Tuesday, Mr. Chandaria said most SMEs have turned to long-term leasing of warehouse spaces as they lack the resources to own warehouses outright. He added that companies with high production capacities struggle with storage, thus the need for more investment in leased warehousing. ‘This is an area that needs to be exploited. Most SMEs cannot afford to put up their own spaces and turn to long-term space leasing programmes. Global companies too opt to lease warehouse spaces rather than put up their warehouses,’ said Chandaria. His sentiments were echoed by Tatu City Head of Sales David Karimi, who said with the fast growth of the city, a state-of-the art warehousing facility was needed to facilitate investment. More than 80 companies have set up shop on the over 5,000-acre piece of land. ‘Due to the hard economic times, quite a number of companies don’t want to construct their own warehousing and distribution centres. Due to this gap, we will provide long-term warehousing leasing to enable them to penetrate the market,’ said Karimi. The multi-million project that will be completed by the end of next year is a joint initiative between Tatu City Ltd., Chandaria Capital, Steel Structures, and MandT Construction. Kiambu County Trade and Investment CEC Nancy Gichung’wa said the establishment is a milestone in supporting SMEs as well as attracting industries in the County, adding that SMEs will be able to fix and store their wares as they prepare to export them. She noted that local farmers from the rich agricultural County will get cooling facilities for their perishable produce as they wait to go to market. Besides, she said, more youth will be employed in the industrial park, which currently has over 10,000 employees and more than 80 companies, both local and global. Tigoni MCA and Kiambu County Assembly Trade Committee Chair Patrick Ngaria said, ‘This is a milestone for SMEs. It will also save farmers from post-harvest losses and motivate them to farm more.’ Other companies in Tatu City include Kenya Wines, Kopier, Dorman, and Twiga Foods, among many others.

Source: Kenya News Agency

A two-day national public-private dialogue on the need for the private sector to heavily invest in agro-processing, tourism and e-commerce kicked off in the Skylight Hotel today.

In his opening remark, Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations President Melaku Ezezew pointed out that “the agro-processing sector should be given attention by the private and public sector so as to reduce poverty and significantly contribute toward ensuring food security.”

Lack of raw material, issues related to packaging, market options, and inadequate service infrastructure are some of the challenges the sub-sector has been facing, he added.

The president stated that consultative meetings among the public and private sector will have significant role in addressing the prevailing challenges while indicating inputs to policy makers.

The demand for digital economy is growing, Melaku said, adding that the government needs to introduce enabling policy to make the private sector invest.

Trade and Regional Integration State Minister, Teshale Belihu said on his part the consultative discussion is useful to address the bottlenecks and bring the private sector on board.

Agro-processing, tourism, and e-commerce are among the major areas to foster regional integration, he stated, and underscored that the discussion will be solution oriented.

According to him, the number of e-commerce users is growing from time to time. “However, it is difficult to say that there is enough system compared to the sector’s growth.”

The National Public Private Dialogue is expected to deliberate on different thematic areas including digital transformation, tourism, and views of the private sector .

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the need to address global hunger, promote cooperation between businesses and governments, and mitigate the damaging impact of continuing climate change on food production.

The Secretary-General made the remark while addressing the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment, in Rome, Italy.

The Summit is being attended by 20 Heads of State and Government, including Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Guterres said in his speech that in a world of plenty, “it is outrageous that people continue to suffer and die from hunger.”

“Global food systems are broken and billions of people are paying the price.”

According to UN estimates, over 780 million people experience hunger, almost one-third of all food produced globally is lost or wasted and nearly three billion people cannot afford healthy diets.

Developing countries face additional challenges, as limited resources and debt burdens prevent them from investing fully in food systems which can produce to nutritious food across the social spectrum.

Unsustainable food production, packaging and consumption are also contributing to the climate crisis, accounting for a third of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater usage, and driving biodiversity loss.

In his address, the UN chief cited three key areas for action, starting with “massive” investment in sustainable food systems.

The UN chief highlighted need to address global hunger, promote cooperation between businesses and governments, and mitigate the damaging impact of continuing climate change on food production.

“Starving food systems of investment means, quite literally, starving people,” he said, calling on governments to respond to UN’s call for an SDG Stimulus, amounting to at least 500 billion USD annually to support long-term financing for all countries in need.

Guterres called on governments and businesses to collaborate and “put people over profit” in building food systems.

Also speaking at the opening, Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), highlighted the importance of assessing progress in agrifood systems transformation towards reaching the 17 SDGs, agreed by all the world’s nations in 2015.

He noted the progress in identifying solutions agrifood systems can provide for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, including more sustainable farming, efficient water management, responsible packaging, reforestation and reduced food waste.

Qu added that these depended on transforming global agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.

“In the face of increasing uncertainties and multiple crises, we need to urgently undertake this transformation to fulfil the high expectations we have from our agrifood systems,” he said.

From 24 to 26 July, the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment will convene over 2,000 participants from over 160 countries to review progress on the commitments made at the first Food Systems Summit in 2021, and identify successes, as well as continuing bottlenecks while refocusing priorities.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) on Monday announced that its profits from diamond sales after tax increased from N.dollars 144.7 million in 2021/2022 to N.dollars 409.2 million in 2022/2023.

Namdia Chief Operations Officer, Uahoroka Kauta in a presentation during a media day event said Namdia not only sells diamonds, but also changes lives.

“One of our focus areas is funding Namibia as a whole’s education, health and sports. As a result, Namdia has invested over N.dollars 40 million in various impact programmes,” Kauta said.

Notable beneficiaries of the programmes include the Namibia National Olympic Committee and the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup and Africa Cup of Nations Cup events. Namdia also constructed an oxygen generation plant at Mariental State Hospital, and helped to develop the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) Eenhana Campus.

Namdia’s Chief Executive Officer, Alisa Amupolo further highlighted the company’s unique selling proposition, saying they exclusively offer 100 per cent non-aggregated diamonds.

“We are the only entity in the world that sells 100 per cent non-aggregated diamonds, which is one of the biggest highlights to emphasise. It is hard for buyers to buy natural diamonds when clients are experiencing inflation hence they buy alternative diamonds, referred to as synthetic diamonds as their prices continue to devaluate due to low quality,” Amupolo said.

Looking ahead, Namdia plans to conduct a competitive bidding process for 100 per cent of its diamonds from 2023 to 2026.

Lelly Usiku, Namdia’s Executive Marketing and Development, Sales and Branding, explained that this process will prioritise client enrolment and favour Namibian partly-owned companies.

With 36 registered diamond clients, including countries like Belgium, the United Arab Emirates, India, the United States of America, and Namibia on a 3-year renewal basis, Namdia aims to strengthen its presence in the downstream market and enhance expertise and capacity-building in the value chain.

“Our mandate is to create a Namibian footprint on the downstream market, to develop Namibian expertise and to build capacity in the entire value chain,” Usiku said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency