EAC 

Saturday, May 17, 2014 

Ugandan firms in Burundi for contracts

BUJUMBURA, Burundi — Eleven top executives representing a cross-section of Ugandan manufacturing were in Bujumbura last week as part of a high level Sales Mission organised by Traidlinks and the Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB).

This was part of the MarketLinked programme sponsored by Irish Aid. Antoine Kabura, the Chief Executive of Burundi Investment Promotion Agency (API) praised the move which has already been successful for other East African  Community companies.

 “It is important for companies in all our member countries of the East African Community to formally make contact with their counterparts across the community to form sustainable business partnerships,” he said.

Each Ugandan company had a one-to-one meeting with a range of Burundian businesses at their host companies’ offices. 

MarketLinked also is sponsored by consultancy firm, TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), to assist Burundian companies export to the rest of East Africa.

This is part of TMEA’s mission to increase the speed of EAC trade integration. TMEA funds similar MarketLinked support for exporters in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. In the MarketLinked process companies introduce a wide range of products to buyers in other EAC countries.  

The focus is on value-added products in the manufacturing sector including agro-processing, especially food and beverages.

The MarketLinked model was first applied by Traidlinks in partnership with UEPB in 2009 and since then repeated it 10 times for Ugandan and Rwandan exporters. Altogether more than 80 companies were connected to over 200 buyers in Nairobi, Mwanza, Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura and Western Kenya with millions of dollars of business exchanging hands.

The API hopes for similar positive results for exports of value added products from Burundi. 

By John Sambo, Saturday, May 17th, 2014