 Good afternoon everyone on the continent. Good morning to our panelists joining us from Texas We are so delighted to have you all with us here today Wonderful conversation. Thank you so much for making time to join us My name is Elizabeth Pelletro I'm the deputy director in the office of economic and regional affairs at the Africa bureau in the State Department here in Washington, DC And I'm joined here by Andrea Donnelly who is our senior trade and investment officer here in the Bureau of African Affairs Just a quick note to folks if you're not speaking today Remember to put your phones on mute just so we can have a smooth conversation We are delighted to have you join us today for this discussion about the African growth and opportunity act We have a panel of distinguished entrepreneurs who are going to talk to us about the ABCs of a goa How do you benefit and take advantage of this excellent tool for strengthening trade and investment cooperation between the African continent and the United States You'll hear from our entrepreneurs about scaling their businesses Increasing exports and how to make your businesses grow. I'm so pleased and happy to have them with us I'd like to recognize that we have audiences on the line with us from four embassies and six American corners on the continent We're joined by colleagues at US Embassy across US Embassy Los Lusaka US Embassy Abuja and US Embassy LeLongwe in Malawi and six American across Nigeria Thank you again all for taking the time to join us Since it was enacted in 2000 the African Growth and Opportunity Act a goa has been the cornerstone of our trade engagement with sub-Saharan Africa Every year we hold an a goa forum Which is a chance for trade ministers from across the continent US leaders the private sector and civil society to come together to talk about how we can do a better job strengthening our trade and investment relationship This year our a goa forum the 18th a goa forum was held in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire earlier this month And it focused on the new tools that are available for folks looking to engage in trade and investment This was a particularly auspicious year for the a goa forum because it coincided with the entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area the AFCF TA and We're very delighted to recognize the importance of the AFCF TA During the forum when the head of our delegation the deputy us trade representative CJ Mahoney signed a joint statement with the AU commissioner for trade and industry mr. Albert muconga Highlighting our shared commitment to the AFCF TA and the success of Africa's trade relationship High-level commitments are nice and important and government-to-government agreements are as well But today we highlight what really makes a goa Successful and that is the private sector partners the entrepreneurs and business people who take advantage of this trade program So I'd like to take a minute to introduce our panelists who are joining us here today and bring their expertise to our conversation I'll start by introducing Krishma Nayee Krishma is the founder and CEO of Xamrut a female owned African ingredients company based in Zambia The company's first ingredient is Moringa, which is a raw superfood known as the miracle tree in many African cultures Xamrut sells the product or domestically and exports to other countries Including the US Super Moringa is ethically sourced from Zambian farmers. Krishma great to have you here today Next on the panel. We have Judith Muliwa vice president of the African women's entrepreneurship program in Zambia AWEP, which is the African women's entrepreneurship program is an outreach education and engagement initiative that targets African women entrepreneurs to promote economic development and social advocacy in their communities under Judith's leadership AWEP Zambia has launched we create centers of women revolutionizing the world Through the startup process of mentoring business modeling and productivity for finance opportunities and markets She also engages regularly on a goa issues Judith. Glad you could join us Our third panel Vitao Sonuvu is joining us from Austin, Texas Vitao, I know it's early for you great that you could make it Vitao is the founder and CEO of the Exportunity Group, which is an Africa. He is an African entrepreneur born in Benin in 2016 he was ranked on Forbes Africa's 30 under 30 list and Was a Yali network fellow in 2014? He's a member of several transnational professional networks and has organized numerous economic events in sub-Saharan Africa Exportunity is an exclusive virtual market Which allows for consumer goods to be traded and or B2B and consumer contacts through the virtual platform Rounding out today's panel. We have Yaganoma Butoku joining us from the US Embassy in Accra Ghana She is the founder and managing director of Wanzhou, Africa Wanzhou is a food processing company using African indigenous wild crops to create products for the urban market While empowering rural women to better under to better their socioeconomic livelihoods Yaganoma is currently a member of Business network that seeks to mentor high school girls and university graduates on various fields of endeavors She's also a 2016 Yali Nelson Washington Mandela fellow. So delighted to have you here In order to make sure that we have as much time as possible for questions I thought we'd start by launching directly into hearing from our panelists a bit about their experiences on the continent and What they have been done in order to scale their businesses and leverage and access International markets. So Krishna, I hope you might have the first word Okay Thank you again for the opportunity to speak. I don't think I am as well established as my fellow Panelists I am starting out Actually so perhaps I can offer some insight into my experience so far and how I have gone about Trying to get started and get going. So I decided to start up a my startup which is zamrut based here in Zambia and When I started my dad told me very very quickly that If I wanted to start a company selling something I first needed to make sure that someone was going to buy the product. Otherwise, there's no point wasting time. So With that in mind, I decided that I would go about figuring out my demand before I figured out the supply and So I thought I would try and figure out where my market would be for a product and at that time I came across these superfood moringa As my mother who is highly diabetic was taking it every day to help with her sugar levels and I hadn't heard of it Hadn't heard of it taken in that way before so I thought this is interesting And very quickly I found out that in order to actually get this product to the shelf let alone across Across waters is you would need to ensure that you're meeting standards and meeting Quality standards and there's not that much information out there So I guess in my experience so far. It's been about research a lot of research Maybe a year and a half of research Learning the hard way of getting a product out. I think a goa is a Fantastic tool that can be used, but it's also very important to highlight that There are a lot of barriers to entry Before we get to use the a goa principle and I can develop on that further But I don't want to take too much time. I'm not sure how much time you would like me to speak for at the moment, but Prishma, that's that's a wonderful answer and what I loved about what you said is you start from what you know I think that that's a great example of kind of things to entrepreneurship and also Building your market, right? This is one of the things that we've found working with various folks Interested in exporting under a goa. The first trick is to find folks who are interested in buying your product So thank you for that Judith. Maybe you can share a few observations for us Thank you very much Thank you so much for including myself on the panel and I'm representing a huge group of our members Who are really interested in getting to know how fair that we can move with a goa in Zambia? and I want to start by saying that Myself as a social entrepreneur I do interact with a lot of female entrepreneurs and Being at the helm of the African women entrepreneurship program here in Zambia Which has been over 10 years now and we have had a great Input from the government as you may know Zambia actually is Hosted under our the patron is always the first lady of the Republic of Zambia and that gives us a great in Buy into the leadership Input so we are proud to say that in in actually in 2018 Zambia launched a strategy that is directed at the ago And it is it has been discovered and in my position as our vice chair We have discovered that a lot of women are having challenges Accessing the ago forum firstly because of lack of adequate information and a lot of bottlenecks that surround the processing documentation access to markets through the a goa Much as it has been extended now I think most of the entrepreneurs that we have as our members are concerned about the processes The time that it would take to be able to access the market Effectively and be able to have a smooth smooth trading platform and a goa The other thing is that Zambia as a country has actually just had launched a great Strategy and then the 7th National Development Plan which has got a an all-inclusive platform Especially for women entrepreneurs and to go with it is a caption about gender Sensitivity in the trading process of Zambia So in that way we find that a goa does offer a lot of good market But we need to identify priority sectors And and products which have the potential to develop the processes of export We also would like to have sector specific Capacity building because as our web we have eight clusters and so we have mining we have agriculture we have Crafts we have Processing we have services and you know all those areas We have a great number of women who are doing great and buying into the relationship between the hour Zambia and the US State Department which does connect us to a lot of opportunity markets Wonderful to you to thank you so very much. I don't mean to cut you off But I do want to make sure we have lots of time for questions from the audience. Thank you So Explore some of the issues that you raised In your point and I would also say you know one of the things I love about a web is the strength of working in community And so really looking forward to hearing and talking more about that as well in a bit Vita a few a few Yes, they are here. Hey, so thank you for you know, this opportunity Just a quick bit about why I'm so passionate about a goa 10 years ago, I was in college and I was fortunate enough to volunteer to organize a trade show in our home country to Add at the time the main idea was to showcase local innovations and help them get access to market When we finally made it two years later to organize a trade show We were really shocked by the fact that even though the trade show was great It was it was a big trade show. It didn't really have a real impact on the local producers who were there And it was due to the fact that the real buyers, you know Real supermarket owners those who can place bigger orders when up there and for me as an IT engineer That was a turning point because for me my question wasn't was then how do I help those local producers get access to market? Both local african market and international market. I didn't know it would take me ten years Right now, but it was a it's a great journey. It got me to understand The different dynamics that they were necessary to get trade on going and the three points I'm going to talk about doing this panel are going to be first on trade information second payment and third logistics, so those are the three And pillars they were critical for us to To do what we do and that's what we've been working on for the past for the past years Super thank you so much Vitaal. I love that that intro And I love the emphasis on perseverance It does take sometimes longer than we'd hoped or expected But really glad to have you joining us here today And then you're gonna maybe you could just say a brief few words to get us started then we'll take two questions from Embassy Accra. So Yaganama, if you don't mind getting us your first thoughts Thank you very much I I am not less of staff if I say I'm not within the Agua space but I'm an entrepreneur working in West Africa and So far I would say that it's Both good and bad and they've been hurdles, but it's been very rewarding to work Within my country. It's been very rewarding to work with other women, especially My start was is very similar to Christmas. So I will not go into that She has a very we have a very similar story as to how we started our businesses and I'm also into indigenous crops, so and that's what I have to say Thank you, I appreciate it again. I appreciate all four of you for being with us today The way we're gonna start the questions is we'll do two eat from Accra two from Lusaka and two from Abuja Then maybe one online from our virtual space to represent our six American corners And then two from our colleagues in the long way who I believe are with us online though I understand they were having some technical challenges earlier this morning if the team at embassy across Let's start us off with a question from your audience Yeah, good afternoon My name is Michael will be red and I'm into men's fashion accessories. So I'll keep you real short I am I had opportunity to read about Agua online before I came here So my question has to do with logistics So I want to ask there's a person handle their own transportation charges or the agency desk and then gets a commission on Getting your products into the US That's it. We're happy to As I say, I was why don't we have Andrea make a brief remark and then I'd love to hear from the folks Particularly maybe on the Boringa how the experience was in terms of managing the logistics challenge Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this very exciting panel And to help Answer some of these questions when it comes to men's fashion accessories Absolutely, you're very much hitting the nail on the head and as they say is one of the target sectors for a go and a go of benefits When it comes to transportation charges specifically those those kinds of technical elements of exporting to the United States can really be answered by Working with for example, I believe you guys are in Ghana, right? The Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry has an office that can provide assistance guidance and resources for companies it like yourself that want to take advantage of the Agua benefits and Krishma, do you mind sharing how it worked for you overcoming those logistics challenges? Basically the biggest cost It's the cost that you have to try and bring down. It's the cost that can kill your business. I think and it's It's not only complicated from a regional or local perspective, but also from an international perspective Just to answer the question in short, who pays and how does Agua help so the Agua Act helps you in the sense that you won't have to pay duty depending on the products, obviously And the duty charge allows you to at least have a bit of cash flow To get your product across and into the US given then you meet the standard requirements The Logistics so it depends again on who you engage like what logistics company with shipping line Who's gonna clear your customs on the other side? Have you talked to your FDA agent? Do you have an FDA agent? There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle so I can't sort of give you like a full answer just yet I mean through it right now because it's a whole process chain But the idea and what I would imagine is the duty cost that you save on bringing your product in Can potentially contribute to engaging a logistics Company to get your product out in the first place and that saving in itself should should help offset the cost In Zambia where landlocked so that is also a big challenge getting to any port is a very expensive and very complicated and Ensuring that your product it remains intact when it's taken from the Truck to the ship to across the sea then reaches there, you know, there are a lot of challenges But again, as I said a goa helps on a duty cost and maybe you can transfer that duty cost Into you know getting your product out. Thank you, Krishma. That's excellent And Vitaal, I'm wondering if you have any thoughts about how virtual space can help in terms of connecting markets prior to those challenges Definitely, thank you for the question Logistics Logistics is a very wide sector. I'm going to answer specifically towards the apparel industry When you're talking about Shipping a product to a client that has ordered in a prior prior to the to you shipping it You need to take in consideration the weight of your product because most shipping companies will take in consideration how What is it insured in the case of you know clothing for example It's not it will be less complicated than if you were shipping a moringa, for example Like Krishna because there's less chances of your product being damaged and the weight of the product is not that much So what I would recommend so first your question was does a goa help in the payment, you know in most trade-to-trade relations It's like for young way go on online. You buy a product Sometimes the vendor will say this is the shipping cost and the client will pay upfront So in that case your client will have paid you know upfront and in I don't know how much volume you're doing But in smaller volumes, it's really common that the buyer actually pays for you know for the shipment now The cost of the shipment you can already include it in the price that you are showing to the client When you come to bigger volumes, that's where you get into international trade, you know technologies Just like CIF or FOB CIF could be that you bring it, you know, you know all the technologies I don't think is really applied to what you were doing right now because volumes are still small. So just Precise Recommendation that will give you what we do from Benin is that we use the national postal system Which is the cheapest for right now if you do the African, you know Most African countries is cheaper than most private companies. So They ship by weight. So it's How heavy your product is so in terms of apparel, I'm sure that you could be able to make a lot of savings on that Thank you. I appreciate that because did we have another question from Embassy Accra? Yes, my name is Eric Agbozo I'm from circle chocolates. We actually do hand made We are handmade chocolate makers. So that's what we do. But my question is I Want to know if the Agwa project actually support Businesses like us and if they do what is the form of support that they give us? Is it machinery training or standardization? Super. Thank you for your question I'll just say a few words about a go a generally and then I'll turn it over to the colleague sitting next to you to Talk about working in the food sector because that is a unique sector So a go is a trade benefit So a go has to do with customs free duty free import of products to the United States The US has other programs that we support through our USA ID trade hubs and other capacity building programs that do provide technical assistance to Exporters potential exporters and also through networks like a web that type of support, but a goa itself is a trade benefit It's a piece of legislation that's specifically focused on duty free providing duty free access For certain products to the US market So with that kind of is a top line. Yeah, no more. Maybe you could talk a bit about your experience working in the food industries Yes, thank you very much Your question What you would have to do is you have to go to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and ask all the necessary questions that you need We also have the Ministry for Small businesses SMEs They also have I think they all have open doors on Tuesdays where you can just walk in and ask as many questions as possible for In terms of health one of the other organizations that is really helping SMEs in Ghana is NBSS I I don't know whether you've heard of them. They don't they also do training They give you the right information and they direct you as to where in particular and who in particular You need to see in terms of the information that you are looking for so I will suggest that you Look for those and FDA also has training programs for The good manufacturing practices as well as Standardization so I think these are some of the questions that you have in mind All right. All right. Thank you very much Wonderful. Thank you and thank you to the team in Accra will come back to you if time allows But now we're going to turn to the team out in Lusaka see if there are any questions from Zambia for our group Embassy Lusaka Good afternoon, my name is Molly Samakai. I'm with our Zambia. I'm one of the entrepreneurs I would like to find out if an exporter Would like to register under a goer How do they do it and where do they do it and then I wanted to find out besides Market access like what benefits does a goer provide besides market access So, thank you Wonderful. Thank you for your question I might turn again to be tall for your experience with that Well, thank you very much for that. So I just wanted to bring some clarification for most of the entrepreneurs. No audience right here Our goal is a trade facilitation law is a law that was passed to help African producers Ship their goods to the US when there is an order so an export happens when you have a client Let's say in the US in this specific case who places the order of your product When that happens that means that there was a first trade information that client knew about you and placed order second thing They should be able to have payment move moves from the US to you and third then that's when you do the shipping So when you are shipping There's some data you have to provide Product there's some certification are required. I think you should get close to the US embassy in your country There's a commercial after section that can give you much more detail on how to have specific, you know Certifications on specific products for example for food related products You will have you will need more certifications than apparel. For example, so it really depends on the industry In which you are So it's important that everybody understands that except from that I think that I'm not an expert into all the everything that the US government is doing to promote a goa But what I do think is that as a business is important that you keep in mind That is for you to get to do the market and get your clients a goa was made to make it easy for you When you receive an order order when you are shipping it to the US not to pay taxes And that's fantastic because most of the other countries in the world trading with the United States have to pay tariffs and For us Africans a goa is really great opportunity to get our products out there So it's you know, you don't expect a goa to do all the job for you You have to do your first year of work as well because it's a business world, you know, for example Krishna is doing Moringa there are many people doing more in Africa So the person who will benefit the most from a goa will be the person who will be able to get to most clients from the US So it there's a lot of work that has to be done. But I know that that I do know just close on that that There are several forums They can get you to meet, you know, different American counterparts, but I don't think that as an entrepreneur We should just wait for that. I think it's important to To push towards the market and get information out of that. That's one of the things that we do and it's what you need Thank you so much. That's excellent And I'm wondering Judith if you might say a little bit about the we create centers and the support that your Organization offers for entrepreneurs who are looking to grow and scale their business Thank you very much. So as our Zambia and working and having been part of the Establishment of the we create center, which is actually an incubation process We have in Zambia. I personally in my my enterprise I'm working with over 30,000 women in the rural areas Who are producing a lot of agribusiness products and these business products When they produce them they need to find the market and so through we create Zambia and our as an objective is to make them Export-ready and so we have there the challenge of having these women Getting information and knowledge to prepare these products and add value to them because as you know, our major Objectivities of our is to add value and make it export-ready and provide From the ago a point of view provide the expertise and the skills And this with this we do as our engage with even the tax department of the government We are working with ZDA who also conduct quite a number of skills development in terms of preparing women to package to brand But the challenge for Zambia as Krishna said we are landlocked surrounded by eight countries And we do not have an airline and so as a result We have to look at the transportation of the products and through we create Zambia We have had a lot of Stakeholders and I'm talking about the corporate world coming on board wanting to support the women access to finance is a challenge because also packaging materials are very expensive and Also, the the certifications are too many and the goa so the women are having challenges to and most of the time they don't even want to start they feel like it's going to take forever and By the time they get it done and the processes of transporting having to change airlines three times That's really has been a problem and would like to see how they are go a process now that we've got an additional lifespan How that can be mitigated it will be a great thing Thank you so much. That's actually a perfect segue for my colleague Andrea to share a little bit about the some of the other support tools Similar to we create that the u.s. Government is proud to offer to potential exporters and exporters under a goa Thank you I'd like to share with you first off that the southern africa trade hub is a resource for Future and hopeful exporters to the united states And so if you have an opportunity to get online and look for the southern africa trade hub And we'll make sure that all of our colleagues who participated today have access to that website That's one resource additionally There are several Organizations like the nigerian-american chamber of commerce for example that provide assistance and support to a goa And that's not a u.s. Government organization, but nevertheless a great resource for folks in nigeria Thank you. Andrea. That's excellent Was there a second question from lusaka? Help you to be here with all of you. It's been a wonderful this afternoon I wanted to say that I was I am actually the chairperson for a rep and have the opportunity to travel under southern african trade hub so in june I had the opportunity to exhibit my organic mango at the fancy food show in new york I wanted to say that it's exciting to go there but On the other hand when you look at all the changes that have to be made You know on the The jars for instance all the labeling has been changed Our hassub certification, which is okay for europe It's not okay for usa We now have to change to mark c We have an addition of the fda certification So the certifications are so many so it would really be wonderful to look at us as gender and see in which way Besides a goer giving us the center or the tax How could these certifications be made simpler? You know because it's really a challenge right now. I am negotiated with somebody But but he's been very kind with me and I wanted to change all these labels and The hub sees and you know all the rest of the certification Yeah, so I really thank you for the agoa initiative It's marvelous that we are able to to trade I mean I've exported into denmark and we don't have that duty-free Window, you know, so you're doing a good job, but we need you to do more Thank you Thank you, and I couldn't agree with you more One of the things that we know now as we've had agoa since 2000 Is that we'd love to see more companies being able to access and utilize that program Now i'm going to manage expectations a bit on the likelihood of the us changing our requirements for particularly food products We have some very strict requirements because of our health safety standards. This is common in lots of countries But we do have tools to help countries and help exporters meet those requirements The other thing i'd add is that i'm quite excited by the opportunity presented by the continental free trade area I look at what africa is doing as a continent committed to trade within africa On setting high quality standards that allow for strong market access And I hope that our african counterparts Will think as they develop their standards for africa Which ones will also make it easier for them to work with the rest of the world including us markets So part of our technical assistance together with the au is to meet that challenge as well I appreciate your intervention and i'm i'm very happy to bring that back to my colleagues But I also do recognize that there's unique challenges in terms of the agricultural sector and some of our safety standards Krishna, maybe you could talk for moringa about what your process was We may not have Krishna with us now In any event, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it We're going to turn now to abuja and the team in nigeria. Any questions from nigeria? Hello, my name is zaynab daddy from abuja a member of a web Nigeria um some of us recently attended the A growth forum in abuja, and um one of the questions that I have Is on the women's entrepreneurs finance initiative and how um, is it possible if you're exporting over adela as a female entrepreneur to be able to access funds or grow out from that to finance your Um your export for instance I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch the question Do you mind getting a little closer to the mic and and repeating so that the rest of us can hear that a little more clearly? okay, um the question is um So one of the products that we learned about at the current agro forum is the women's entrepreneurs finance initiative The we see that's what we we were introduced to that recently at the agro forum So what we at our nigeria wanted to know is is it possible for us to access some of the funds from there to be able to finance our export? Great. Thank you so much for that question And i'm delighted to have you raise wefy And also raise our overall commitment to women's entrepreneurship You know, we do have wefy is being accessed through the african development bank and is sector specific So perhaps this is something that we could have further conversation about offline to go into more detail about that But i'm very glad that you raise wefy because Part of this is an overall us government commitment to support expanded engagement from women entrepreneurs Not only in africa, but globally We were delighted to recently launch w gdp Which is a government commitment from the us to support Entrepreneurship around the world of the women who are helping to grow their businesses and elevate their communities Wefy is part of that And as I say, we'd be very happy to talk in more granular detail about liaisoning with the african development bank to to maximize the impacts Thanks for your question Another question in abuja This question is how do we get our product across to have the first education? That's the first question and the second question is that is there any Forum or any place where we can access the people who need our products? Again, i'm sorry the mic's not great. Do you mind speaking a little more slowly? Okay, my first question is How do we get our product across to FDA and other organizations in the u.s for certification? And the second question is Is there any forum or any other any point where we can access people who need our product to the u.s through our work? Sure, I mean, I think that's great. That really gets at the heart of how do you build a market for your product? How do you find the purchasers who will who will eventually become the draw the demand signal for your product? Be tell maybe you can share a little bit about how you support people looking for that that type of engagement Yes, absolutely. Um, that's really uh straight into my Um to my field so I'm gonna speak about how do you get? People to know about your products because I was talking. I thought I would have a little opportunity to say that earlier That's why my introduction was short, but I will take this opportunity to explain what we do there are three main components Steps for trade first clients need to know that you exist and they can offer to companies across Africa on online shop We don't have too many because our criteria are as strict as I go up because we want to make sure the people who are on our platform when a client sees the the product they can actually Make the trade decisions. So one of the things that we require We have to be company that's legally registered. We have to be compliant of tax in your country We ask around 80 questions per product. We are extremely specific so that When a client sees your product and any question that they might have in terms of how do you ship? What are the different certifications that we have? What are the everything that needs to be done? We help you work through that process and we help you answer those questions and we put that out put them out there The platform is convertible in any two languages. So anybody can from anyone work and just come and see it So that's for the trade information body so For trade information to happen you need to do your part as well It's very important. It's good that you spoke about forums But after forums as well is important to be able to follow up if you have an opportunity for a forum It's great if you don't you can also take opportunities And I know a few companies that I do use using some marketing digital marketing to target Certain audiences in the United States. So, you know as a business is important You also take you view your fair share. That's the first part second Um, what we do to wrap that up payment, you know, many online payments Solutions For trade for a bigger volume trade to happen You need to have a sample most people want to have a sample to test the product in the in the in the houses Before being able to place a bulk order So if you don't have a chance to go to a forum You might want to be able to access a client that can order have a small order That can lead to a bigger order So in that field what we we solve the payment issue with the support of the United Bank for Africa We we want to be one of the first platforms in Africa to collect visa mastercard advance payments online We issued our own run of visa cards that can help you as a producer Receive your your payment from anywhere in the world, which is fantastic for an African company because the global economy is today's digital so On the on the payment side, that's what we do When you go to bigger volumes of the trade day, we go to much more complicated payment Structure is structured circulation with banks and third then there's a shipping they we partner with a national post for shipping I know I've been Step going out of the line a little bit for your question But I wanted to get it clear for everybody For shipping first you need to send samples across and second you need to be able to send send bigger bigger amounts Now on your first question regarding certification, I'm not the best person to answer it I think there are people here who are much more qualified to answer it Thank you so much. I really appreciate that before we turn to the questions of certification I'm wondering if yaga nomo because you have scaled your business in Africa and grown your markets there If you have any tips for us on how to do that how to build a market Even domestically on the continent prior to doing export to the united states Um, personally what I had to do was Get people involved in creating the product So even though I had this idea that this is what I wanted to do I got my clients involved in how they wanted it to taste and so because I had a client base that decided This is how we want the product to be. This is the texture. I would like it When I sent it out to market. There was already a ready market for it That was one of the things I did. I also do Consistent reviews for my product. I get people to write about my products. I also get People to give me feedback, which I always do my best to try and incorporate into products that are coming products if I cannot change those ones immediately For um I don't know about Nigerian's education But for here in Ghana for certification we You have to go to the FDA and always best for me. What I had to do was actually Work with them from their ongoing from the very beginning. I went to the FDA in Ghana I spoke to somebody they set me on the path showed me the various processes that I needed to go through To be able to get my product Onto the shelves and before I could actually get my product onto the shelves. I had clients And there were people were buying it off me while I was working with the FDA and I think more often than not when we start Making our own product and we start especially within the food industry We tend to forget that the government agents are extremely important in getting To where we need to go. So sometimes we finish a product We take it to the government agency and it's completely wrong. It cannot meet the standards And so from the get go get a government agency that you know that you need education from involve so that at the end of the day They won't have any problem when you're going for certification That is super and very practical advice And I think that is absolutely something that we've heard echoed again and again right is that Forging those early connections with folks who can advise you about the regulatory requirements So that you build your product with a market in mind with the regulatory constraints in mind That allows you to move quickly to scale once your product is finalized Very tough to make those shifts after you've gone through all the design So good to do that strong consultation early. I thank you so much. That's very helpful advice We have a few questions online from our various american spaces in nigeria So i'd like to take a minute and and introduce that audience as well They're not connected digitally, but I do have their questions here before me One question here from calabar nigeria. Are there any products that are generally accepted under agoa? Well, the specific tariff lines under agoa are many But in terms of a general sense of what products are are covered under agoa andrea, maybe you can provide a response Absolutely. Well with 6,500 tariff lines accepted under agoa. It can be a little daunting But generally speaking we're talking about machinery. We're talking about Agricultural products. We're talking about manufactured goods apparel Of course is a big plus for agoa footwear and and housewares as well Super. Thank you so much. Andrea Another question from an american corner in nigeria I'm just hearing about agoa for the first time What efforts are in place to ensure the citizens of african states know about the act? Is it possible to liaise with respective us missions to find out more information? Absolutely is the answer to that one at our embassies across the continent We have what we call u.s. Embassy deal teams They are a whole of government approach bringing together the state department usaid And other tools from within the u.s. Government including our foreign commercial service and others To think how can we strengthen trade and investment ties between africa and the united states? Understanding agoa is part of that effort So I would say to our colleague who asked that question Please do contact the embassy asked to speak to the deal team or the economic affairs officer I'm sure they'll be able to provide you with further information About what is appropriate in nigeria available for you to help you learn more and hopefully leverage and utilize agoa And i'll do one more question from an american space in jos nigeria Which asked how awep members can benefit from agoa? And how the u.s. Mission in nigeria can partner with the nigerian government To make soft policies that will allow startups to break even and thrive Through the export opportunities offered by agoa That's a wonderful question. Thank you for that There are numerous awep members that are currently utilizing and benefiting from agoa And one entrepreneur that comes to mind for me Is miss kone burkinaabe awep alum from 2012 She overcame the logistical difficulties of operating in her country to secure a contract on cashew supply for cosco Which is a massive us real uh realtor She's a great example of how women can achieve success by overcoming the obstacles that can be That can impede their businesses thriving With your question about partnering with the government of nigeria to eliminate barriers for women Let's startups Absolutely. That is something we do regularly So from the u.s. Government's perspective, we would like to support entrepreneurship globally We have several different tools for doing that. We create global platforms You may have heard about the global entrepreneurship summit Which is an annual event that we're very proud to support to foster and promote entrepreneurship And we also talk with african government counterparts Particularly about entrepreneurship because we have seen that entrepreneurship is a key factor in creating jobs Frankly for both the united states and for africa. This is critical We are very much aware of the enormous youth population in africa A lot of young people who are coming of age and wondering what's next who are looking for opportunities Their entrepreneurship is going to create the jobs create the prosperity that will Support africa's bright future. So yes, we speak regularly with the nigerian government counterparts and with other government counterparts About what are the policies to put in place to foster and support entrepreneurship? Thank you so much. I really appreciate that question. You can tell it's an issue. I'm passionate about I'm going to turn back now to the team in a craw to see if they have further questions Hello, good afternoon. My name is chisela asansi. Thank you for the opportunity So I am also into food processing and fresh yogurt so we use you know indigenous and fruits Vegetables spices and other things to incorporate into our yogurt. So from what I can Understand right now. We need to get the market first from the u.s. Before we can join the agua Right. That is the case. How do we get there? How do we get the market? Other exhibitions that are held So that you'll be able to To get the market in the u. Thank you Thank you so much. That's a that's an excellent question um Krishna, do you mind sharing how you accessed the u.s. Market for the first time? Um Yeah, I The trade hub actually South african trade hub is a good resource Uh, and I'm not sure in akra that but that's southern africans. I'm not sure in akra if you have something similar For west africa another just piece of advice or My learnings that I can share with you is that Before if you it depends on what stage you are with your product but If I were you and you have a good product and I'm sure it's great and it tastes great Before you endeavor to try and set up get into a trade show Um, I would look at how you could at this stage like look at your packaging Look at the labeling look at what is involved so that when you go to a trade show For example, or when you take that leap to the trade show You're not going there and then coming back and having to adjust everything after but you're going in prepared So that's when someone comes to you and says hey, I want this Uh, you're like, yes, how many and I I have made that mistake and many other people make them Not mistake, but it's a learning and so Um, if you're at that stage, I I would I would like to think that you first get everything right Uh for the market that you want and then go to the trade show and then access because your access point With the market will become so much easier because that person knows you've done your homework But they know that you're serious about getting this product into their market. They know that they can rely on you um And that is an advantage. So I think uh, that's the step you should look at first before the next the next step Oh, thank you Thank you so much Krishna. That was that was great. And yes, you know, we've talked about the southern african trade hub I would say for folks in west africa the usa id regional mission is also an excellent resource They have regional economic growth officers Who are available to provide similar support? But what I really loved about what you your uh, your intervention highlighted Is that you need to be able to produce at scale? for international markets Um, that you know, really when you're looking at exporting to the us One of the challenges that some of the exporters who tried to work under agoa run into Is we love their product and guess what we want to buy it in thousands and they produce in dozens Uh, and that is a real challenge for some of the exporters under agoa So doing that homework being prepared to scale Uh at the early stage and thinking about the kind of market Target scale that you're looking for I think is is really excellent advice. Thank you for that And the second question from okra So you want to ask? Yeah Okay, thank you. My name is festus osu and i'm into trade facilitation and management consultancy And I want to find out so in the us what kind of structures are there for Anyone who is interested in partnering Someone you're gonna write to under the agoa read in terms of technical financing What kind of What kind of opportunities are there for one to tap into so that we can partner to do? To to do business For absolutely Vita, do you want to talk about how you do business to business linkages through your platform? Sure. Um, thank you for uh, and this again, so again you know But the one is like a global market right like, you know, you go to the market Everybody has different products and everybody's trying to get clients to get them Oh me the the opportunity that I had that they triggered the first trade deals that I did with with american cut the parts was Because I had an opportunity to come to the united states through the alley program It was five years ago And I was a great opportunity because I was able to I came back to austin. I mean austin texas right now I came back because we are setting up a joint venture here Um to push trade between austin texas and back home But I don't know if what I would say now would be relevant to you and to everybody because I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to come here and meet people and actually talk with them and show them what we do what we're trying to do And that created a trade relationship I do think that there's a lot more that has to be done in terms of getting americans to know about african products because Most american consumers may just discover shibbaker or you know at home food or something like Yeah, but that's just it. They'll just see it on the on the shelf But how do you get someone who never heard of africa before to discover that actually africa is now a market It's not just a big market But it's actually somewhere where trade is happening and we can actually buy something from someone Actually buy bigger quantities and put in a widget outlets and that's a whole different process For us what we one of the things that we did as well We partnered with the chambers of commerce of san antonio. For example, I'm speaking In in four days at the chamber of black chamber in austin texas chambers of commerce are a great resource because businesses There's a lot of business people who are there but again, it's I don't have a Standard answer, you know, because I know how tough it can be to get an opportunity to come to trade show in the us And it comes with different programs to meet, you know, the people so I think The the situation that I had was very singular. I think we're really blessed on that But I think I do think they one of the best ways, you know To our platform when you have your online shop, we don't have a logo on your shop I mean you just set up your shop And you can a lot of people we do do a lot of digital marketing For example, when you take I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about facebook here For example, the facebook marketing is again. I'm not allowed to talk about it different I mean there's a lot of great companies out there like facebook and google would have offered great tools they can target You know your audience, but I think it takes a first effort from from yourself You know, nobody's gonna come and knock on your door and try to buy your product You just have to find a way To get let the client know that you exist. I think that's a very first, you know step for any Any market access whether it's true an opportunity to come to the us and meet up with people physically Or if you are you're back homing still trying to figure it out Thank you, that's excellent And I would add that you know the us government is very committed to also amplifying The opportunity that africa represents and the opportunity to work with african businesses So through the department of commerce, we organize trade missions that travel around the continent Making those person to person the b2b connections that help to create the linkages for new markets And new deals We can't always meet everyone There's a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs and businesses across the continent But we do make an effort to bring american business to the continent because we recognize that While some americans are very aware of the opportunity that africa represents others are not And so helping to overcome their thoughts and recognize the opportunity that it is to work with an african company To do business two-way business Not just under agoa, which is about exports to the united states But trade and investment in both directions that that actually benefits both the united states and the continent So thank you so much for your question Do we have a question from musaka? I don't know there's a question Oh, yeah, I don't actually have a question But I just wanted to add because I think it's important that I to mention because I think we're missing a step In in in the discussion and this is my experience is that Is getting the product right and investing in getting your product Right is the first step and You can you can forget the rest because you need to know where your strength lies, right? So if it's in growing tomatoes, are you producing the best tomato? Like is that tomato? Exportable If you have confidence in that People will come to you and I think instead of jumping the gun to like, how do I get this Product to the u.s. So I can scale and I make tons of money There is no fast way to big money So get your product right like focus on your product. You have a great product There will be people Excellent, sorry, that was it Quite a part but this is true, right? It's it's kind of that if you build it they will come It's fine Yes, may it's you don't have an intervention Yes I wanted to say something Certainly we'd love to hear from you Yes, I also think that The the traders from Zambia the women that are ready to export another thing that really Puts them down As I said, it's the issue of too much documentation that one is already stated and I I don't need to repeat it But also I think to build the capacity to have What you can call is a product that will be accepted rather than For women to when they do produce and they have to undergo all that specification And I think this was mentioned earlier and having to to be told that it is not I think quality assurance I want to raise the issue of effective quality assurance Right here at home That's the issue I wanted to raise and that that our women and as our we're concerned that we need To have a process of effective quality assurance So that the exporters are Perfectly aware and sure that they are going to get it back on their products Yeah, that's an excellent point. I think both in quality assurance and consistency of product You know people who are making the investment to buy products from the continent to ship them over to the u.s Really need a consistent product because they're building their market for a very specific Uh specifications of a product So even if you're thinking about things like clothing, you know, if it's labeled for a certain size That needs to be the same size consistently You can't have a medium that's a little small and a medium That's a little big because that makes it very challenging for your sellers in the u.s To market that product. Uh, so I really appreciate that that intervention. I think that's excellent advice And was there a question from lusaka or shall we turn to abuja? Thank you very much, uh, my name is lene sonda from savannah premium chocolate We are making chocolates that are a single origin Been to bar here in lusaka zambia. My question is, um I've seen that the cost cost on logistics and also, um, you you need to have your orders before you you use Or you use the agoa now my question is all your certifications and the logistics Actually, this question is going to the people that are I've already gone on to the american market. So my question is i'm not paying tariffs as i'm also, um Um, not pay it's duty free, right? So i'm looking at the price So after all your costings or certifications and all that I want to find out I believe my bar in the in america will be cheaper When will I recoup that money after all the certifications? How long did it take you guys to get your money back? Thank you And let me just also add that lene was a recent participant in this year's global entrepreneurship summit Thank you super super super panelists Those who've had success in this effort Who would like to take that one? I'll take it I I wouldn't say it's a I I don't think it's a something I have achieved yet. Um But I think it really is about Oh, okay, I really think it's about, um research Again, it's getting your pnl Sort of knowing what your cross space is what the inputs are And then how much you need to sell to ensure that you recover your costs. So Um, I know it's not like a I don't I haven't achieved it. I think it just means it just For me my for me to achieve those costs and recover the costs I need to be able to sell x amount to ensure that that amount then pays for the investment that I have put out into my product But that I I don't know that it seems like a bit of a simplistic answer, but I don't know if it's the right answer But that's my answer Thank you krishma I I would also maybe add that Many of the exporters that we've worked with have had success in high-end specialization So I heard you say, you know, we're trying that we can have a cheaper product Sometimes it's actually better to target a niche market where you're charging a premium Because your product comes with its special legacy be it organic or directly from the continent And so we have some african exporters to the united states who rather than going for being the lowest cost alternative Try to find a space in the niche high-end market And that of course will change the calculus on when you'll see a return from your investment Thanks so much for that the team in abuja. Did you have a question? You hold on Hi Thank you for very much for Information about the floor My name is frida My question is this From My my colleague here asked a question about a resource center that we can register our products on and I think I don't really believe your colleague mentioned South african tween hub and the Nigerian-american chamber of commerce I I I don't understand. Is it like a website where we can register products? And if it's not Is there any uh provision for things like say amazon or You know Demo or something like that that nature if it doesn't exist. Is it possible for collaboration? You know so that there will be a space for african products to be advertised Thanks so much. That's that's a wonderful question. I'll let andrea talk a little bit more about how the hub works Excellent. Thank you. The southern african trade hub is a resource for anyone on the continent taking advantage of Agoa and sub-saharan africa and so I would urge you to to reach out to them and they can provide a variety of of services and assistance catered to your product and so I As we've heard from some of the other participants and folks who've asked questions They've taken trade missions. They can help connect you with potential buyers They can provide some guidance and assistance with making your product and your And your your company a little bit more export ready And I would also urge you to to get close to the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce because that is another networking platform and opportunity to access potential exporters And so I certainly encourage you to take advantage of those resources because they can help you connect And make your company a bit more export ready Super, thank you so much And then in terms of digital access and working with amazon or other digital platforms You know that that's really where to come back to vitale and the niche that he's developed for Creating digital markets for african products vitale. It would be great if you could talk a little bit about your interactions in that space Well, thank you very much So I just want to start by talking about niche markets You mentioned that a little earlier There are many products that People here in the u.s. Are willing to buy because there's there's a story behind it people here tend to understand That It's tough for african producers for someone who is from africa who made something so people have really to appreciate that So I think Charging a higher price a slightly higher price Can help can help you, you know get back into your form very fast Now talking about digital platforms My personal belief for many years is that digital trade is the Is one of the best ways to start to Grow trade between the united states and africa I'm not sure that it's gonna it's gonna be enough playing tickets and enough money to host all african sms Come bringing them to trade shows in the u.s. I'm not sure that that's something that's gonna happen But I think that digital the digital as you rightly said opens an avenue that's available right now That can be it can be it can be used. So if your product is ready, you know And if your product doesn't necessarily have to be a product that's used in africa, for example There's For example, this shirt that I'm wearing was made by by A designer from benin who is shipping this product to the u.s. Right now And the design was specifically made to fit with it, you know with with The audience here. So what i'm saying is what we do through our platform is It's not exactly what amazon does. We we are really focused on helping Product to go from africa from those markets that Are very different in terms of trade culture from the united states from the u.s When people come to a supermarket, for example, there's a little the Some of the researches that I do people will just start reading a lot about the product They want to buy people want to know what they're buying And in africa we tend we have much more emotional Have a strong emotional connection Where that we buy so one of the things that we do is to serve as a bridge You know bring break that barrier and ask as many questions from the african producers as possible To get the information out there to the american counterpart and again. Yes A partnership with amazon that's something that we have not done yet. That's something that will be interesting We are talking with paypal right now. One of the things that we did is that So paypal payments can be collected through our visa cards, which is a great thing that's happening right now That's helping. We have over 10 million dollars of transaction. They were facilitated Through, you know that that channel, you know using helping local producers have a visa card to receive payments So that there's not many layers. I think To make that happen, but again to close I do think the digital trade is is the fastest fastest way to grow trade Between the united states and african and helping small volumes for small sms because bigger volumes are good for companies that are much more established But in the realities in many african countries, we don't we have banks that are funding export So it's important to be a little pragmatic and try to push Towards smaller volumes and grow organically. That's really what I believe. I don't I'm not sure it's totally totally true 100% true But that's what I believe, you know organic growth is always better when you're a business You can control your growth and control the quality of your product Thank you so much. That's excellent advice and you know, I I'm sad to see the time rush by us because we've already Gone a little bit longer than we were scheduled to do We're still getting several excellent space questions from the american spaces So I think we'll have our final question of the day come from one of our Observer the six american spaces that are online in nigeria And I I'll share one of those now Here's one From the american space in so koto How can individual firms benefit from capacity building in order to help people from our community Benefit from agoa That's a wonderful question Perhaps jude if you could say something about how a web supports various individual firms our web As I said earlier one of the things is to add value to a business to add a female entrepreneur And when the value addition has been done and through the processes is also to Make sure that they have access to the process of certificate certifications and finding market Um, how can they benefit as in our we have an interactive forum? So as a female entrepreneur or a member of our they do participate in a various capacity building programs that we have And I want to say that we are extremely excited about the continued good relationship with the embassy because We have now started having periodical capacity building workshops with the state department which are really adding value to the members the existing members and giving a lot of attraction to other Women who are individual business women and individual entrepreneurs who are doing things and who can belong to a cluster And come up to the our platform to offer And share and also, uh, I didn't say much about the we create center Which is also helping the women to incubate their businesses And raise them to the value addition that our past to do Thank you so much As I say, there's there's lots that we could discuss but we're coming to the close of our time I hope each of our panelists might just offer some brief closing thoughts Oh to our participants Encouraging them to to leverage a goa if we could start perhaps with Yaganoma. Maybe you could add a closing thought for us Thank you very much. Um There are a few questions. I wanted to respond to one of them Being the last but two Which was concerning where they could get information from Where you could get information from one of the places AGI Association of Ghana industries is a great platform to get all the information on how you can export outside of Ghana so within West Africa with the Agua program With Europe so that is one of the best resources to go to Also, you can take part in trade shows at the trade fair Another for the gentleman who asked about partnership Food solution in one of the it's an American company that is working with indigenous companies within developing countries where they help you to augment your production and so they sometimes help with Machinery as well as helping you access the right loom. So I would suggest that you google them and get more information About them. I think this has been an excellent program I personally have learned a whole lot more about Agua that I did not know I will reiterate what my colleagues have said about certifications. I think When it comes to food, especially our certifications are extremely Strangent and I find that even within the Ghana community Trying to export within West Africa. You have the same Issues where the standardization and The certification process is very stringent because this is food that is going to be ingested by somebody And the last thing you want to do is hurt someone through the product that you have put out there so I would suggest that we Take our processes Extremely seriously and so that we can meet the right requirement to be able to get out into the market Super. Thank you so much. We tell closing thoughts from Texas Yeah, definitely. Um, thank you so much for this opportunity. Um, I do believe that this is one of the best moments in history for for trade between the United States and Africa in Africa with the continental continental free-to-the-area Have have become one of the largest free-to-the-area on the planet and some very important that we We leverage a lot on that that can create a lot of synergies to Threaten, you know, what African SME's are doing teaching them to first export in the domestic market Then to be ready to export to market that require much more certification by the United States Um, I do believe that's a lot of effort. Uh, can also be done again to uh to try to get the word out there help Uh, both African entrepreneurs and American entrepreneurs know that that there's a trade opportunity Uh for both parts One of the things that we started doing in the name that we would like to replicate in other countries is what we call the Both house they created me Name is a free training area that we the way we train 50 entrepreneurs every week on how to the export ready and how to Exporting to the u.s. And all the parts of the world and that's something they would like to do We've been with the national course of being in which is our biggest partner locally throughout our pilot We we use all of all the all the offices to help local producers ship their goods You know two other countries in the world including the u.s So that's sort of things that I they will be open to partner with other entrepreneurs to uh to make happen And yeah, we would love to help any entrepreneur who would like to uh collaborate with us I'm sure the the organizers can share my my compact. I'm open to that if anybody wants to see how it's continually useful Outstanding. Thank you so much. And now to to our team in zambia for some final thoughts Okay, um Thank you so much. This was a great platform and it's very useful. Uh, I hope that From now on we may consider having Some more of such interactive, but I want to say that In zambia since the launch of the since the launch of the national agoa strategy in june last year uh, it it that gave our zambia chapter a great expectation and Excitement to do more and I want to announce here that as a chapter we set up 10 focal point Officers throughout the country in our 10 provinces and the hour and through those focal point officers We intend to undergo a national awareness program Of agoa working together with the the ministry of commerce and obviously the zda and of course our very close partner the usd department That we would like to get more entrepreneurs on board So that zambia entrepreneurs do not fear export As a result of the challenges that we mentioned a lot of people just feel it's impossible And as our zambia, we are standing with you And wanting to make agoa a success the extra years that we've been given and I think we are remaining with eight now almost We would like this to give Double the result and so thank you so much for this opportunity Uh, we hope to have done better by the time we sit like this next time. Thank you Thank you. Thank you for that krishma Can we have you have the last word and then I'll wrap up Yeah, um, again also for my part. Thank you so much. I'm very, uh, nascent and new to all of this and so uh All I would like to say is uh research uh improve your product learn Failure is okay And it's from the hardest parts that you you really do Come up with the best ideas. So Good luck Thank you. I have to say for me. This has been fantastic. I am inspired by our panelists I am also inspired by our audiences You know just it's been a such a pleasure to see all of you and this video connect to see your interest Your passion. I do think you are the future of africa And I really welcome the time that you've made today to talk with us about agoa For those who have further questions. I mentioned speaking to our embassy deal teams Please you can always speak to our embassy staff both the economic section and the foreign commercial service Online you can always go to yali.state.gov Backslash agoa and you'll find lots more about the program of agoa and how you can access its benefits Thank you again so much. I hope you have a wonderful day