West Africa trade programme whips up interest

Cape exporters get moving TWO YEARS after the launch by Wesgro of its Western African Trade Corridor programme (WATC) designed to address the general lack of knowledge on trading with Africa, the initiative seems to be bearing fruit. According to Michael Gamwo, Africa desk manager at Wesgro, official trade and investment promotion arm of the Western Cape government, a good number of the province’s exporters are either already exporting to the likes of Angola, Nigeria and Ghana or have set up joint ventures with companies in those countries. What is more, a substantial increase in inward trade missions from African countries has enabled Wesgro to introduce some 300 companies to Western Cape exporters. A series of seminars about accessing the market and the realities of doing business in Africa was followed up last year with a “Western African Business Networking Forum”, aimed at getting West African business people living in the Western Cape to form partnerships and joint ventures with SA companies to better exploit opportunities in their respective countries. But Gamwo says many adverse factors continue to hamper the growth of bilateral trade between the Western Cape and Africa, including a lack of export drive by many companies with export potential.