Investors perceive that times have never been better to invest in sub-Saharan Africa—including the ECOWAS region. With some African economies attaining middle income status giving rise to emerging consumer classes and urban centers coming of age, more and more West African firms are seeking to do business in international markets.

In November, the Trade Hub project completed its four-year second phase – a year-long extension will see activities continue through 2012. Using a market-driven export-led approach to drive economic growth, the Trade Hub has bridged the gap between West Africa’s emerging economies and global markets.

The Trade Hub’s work focused on six value chains—cashew, shea, home décor and fashion accessories, apparel, specialty foods and sustainable fish and seafood—to achieve economic growth and alleviate poverty.

A Trade Hub multiplier effect study published in 2010 showed how increasing sales of goods connected to these value chains at the producer level delivered important impacts.

For example, a $1,000 increase in sales of cashew nuts in a village – significant income in its own right – produces additional income in the local economy of $1,430.

Employing a two-pronged approach, the Trade Hub has worked closely with thousands of  companies—grooming ‘leaders’ in each of its target sectors that can act as mentors to other local entities. The second prong involves teams of experts devising practical solutions in areas that no single company can address on its own: transport, telecommunications, access to finance and business environment.

Over the past four years, the Trade Hub’s methodology of “test then evaluate”—always remaining practical and responsive to bridge the gap for West African companies to become players in global markets—led to $178 million in exports and $53 million in investment. Almost 10,000 jobs were created.

Developing industry alliances and clusters, with internationally recognized brands, connected stakeholders and leveraged business opportunities.

Major achievements over the past four years include:

Business Development
•    Global Shea Alliance: 54 stakeholders representing the shea industry from across West Africa and around the world established the Global Shea Alliance at a Trade Hub-organized workshop in Accra, Ghana, in October 2010. In April 2011, more than 120 stakeholders became members of the Global Shea Alliance at the annual shea conference in Ghana.
•    Shea 2011: More than 350 shea stakeholders representing women’s groups, traders, exporters of finished products, the world’s largest producers of shea-based specialty fats, researchers, government officials and leading international consumer brands participated in Shea 2011: Sustainable Solutions in Accra, Ghana, in April 2011. Experts demonstrated how to make shea natural cosmetics formulations and how to graft shea trees, and presented on the latest market trends and priority policy issues affecting the industry. A business-to-business event connected more than 300 companies during one-on-one business meetings.
•    Home Décor: 12 West African handcrafts companies participated in Ambiente, the world’s largest wholesale home décor trade show held in Frankfurt, Germany. This new trade show connects West African producers to professional buyers in the huge European market.
•    African Cashew Alliance Annual Conference: 357 cashew industry stakeholders from across the continent and around the world – representing virtually every aspect of the industry, from farmers’ groups to leading international food companies, participated in the 6th annual conference of the African Cashew Alliance held in Banjul, the Gambia, in September 2011. The event featured exhibits of processing equipment at the first World Cashew Expo, more than 300 one-on-one company meetings during a business-to-business forum and the launch of the ACA Quality and Safety Seal. More than 30 high-level experts presented information on finance, safety and quality standards, market trends and investment opportunities in the sector.

•    Cashew Investment: An investor assisted by the USAID Trade Hub launched West Africa’s first fully mechanized cashew processing company in Techiman, Ghana. The $20 million investment will employ 1,000 people within five years and donate 0.5MW of electricity to the community from a generation plant using cashew nut husks as a fuel source.
•    Apparel Investment: 350 people – 90% of them young women – were employed as workers at the 1888LuckyMills apparel factory in Tema, Ghana, a multi-million dollar investment facilitated by the Trade Hub over four years.
•    Specialty Foods: The African Agrofoods Exports Federation and the Senegal Export Promotion Council adopted “Taste of Africa,” the Trade Hub-developed internationally respected specialty foods brand. The groups represent hundreds of specialty foods exporters and will use Taste of Africa to promote African cuisine in international trade shows.
•    AGOA Events: In FY 2011, two AGOA Resource Centers were launched in The Gambia and Togo and AGOA Days reached more than 500 stakeholders in Cameroon, Gabon, Liberia, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Presentations at Shea 2011 and the 2011 African Cashew Alliance conference introduced and explained AGOA trade preferences and how to use them to more than 200 industry stakeholders.
Finance
•    11 Trade Hub-assisted export-ready companies received loans of more than $4.7 million total in FY2011. 22 commercial bankers, including 3 women, were trained during FY2011 in trade finance and assisting export-ready companies in Trade Hub-assisted sectors.
•    The Trade Hub established close working partnerships with the Grassroots Business Fund, Root Capital and the Acumen Fund to extend the reach of these organizations to export-ready companies in West Africa. Grassroots and Root Capital both placed employees at the Trade Hub’s offices in Accra and Dakar.
•    The Trade Hub developed an innovative financial service provider platform to focus technical assistance to export-ready companies with bankable requests for financing. The platform divided the region into three zones where service providers worked closely with companies to prepare applications and meet financial institutions to negotiate credit.
•    Leveraging sector-specific technical expertise and industry cluster experience, the Trade Hub brought financial institutions, companies and experts together to develop comprehensive financial assistance approaches within specific sectors. In Nigeria, this cluster approach ensured that cashew processors remained operational, guarding the employment of over 300 people.

Transport
•    Checkpoints, delays and bribes decreased by 29% in FY2011 thanks to Trade Hub-supported advocacy and communications under the Borderless campaign to increase trade across West Africa.
•    The Borderless Alliance of private sector companies committed to increasing trade across West Africa was launched in May 2011.
•    Four quarterly reports on road harassment, written and published jointly with UEMOA, were released each quarter of FY2011 on 6 corridors, and disseminated to 5,448 stakeholders participating at 15 stakeholder events and to over 2,400 stakeholders via email. More than 200 news articles on the reports appeared in newspapers and more than 11 hours of radio and 6 hours of TV reporting were devoted to them in 6 countries.
•    The Trade Hub published National Reports on road governance in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal. Stakeholders have used the reports to address issues affecting road governance performance specific to their countries. The Trade Hub broadly disseminated the reports electronically and in print to thousands of stakeholders, who then used them in their own advocacy efforts.
•    Three new truck drivers’ guides were drafted in FY2011 based on the successful Ghana Truck Drivers Guide released in FY2010. The new guides cover Burkina Faso, Mali and Togo, presenting practical information on the traffic laws and practices of uniformed services enforcing the laws and how to get help with transit-related issues.

•    4 policies concerning road governance and transport were implemented in FY2011 based on Trade Hub studies and recommendations to policymakers: Ghanaian officials cracked down on informal agents at the Ghana-Burkina Faso border who were extorting truck drivers and delaying the movement of goods; Togolese officials formally eliminated three customs checkpoints in the north of the country and all but three police and gendarmerie checkpoints along the country’s primary trade corridor, linking its capital Lome to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; the Government of Mali removed all checkpoints along its corridors operated by the National Transport Organization, which had been cited as significant sources of harassment; the Governments of Mali and Senegal jointly began implementing elements of the ECOWAS Inter-State Road Transport agreement .

Business Environment
•    A comprehensive Trade Hub study of regional agricultural trade and transport policy issues, including a review of hundreds of documents and one-on-one interviews with dozens of stakeholders, led to a set of specific recommendations that has become the basis for bilateral talks between Mali and Senegal and Burkina Faso and Ghana. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID have used the findings to devise regional development strategies.
•    With stakeholders in the private and public sectors, the Trade Hub launched a Border Information Center pilot at the Ghana-Togo border. The Center provides practical information to traders crossing the border and assists them in resolving issues that arise, and it also has served as a platform for great public-private cooperation and collaboration at the border. In Ghana, the Center has led the head of the customs service to issue new directives on clearance procedures and develop new policies on GPS tracking of transit trucks and the setting up of Express Lanes for non-dutiable goods. More than 40 traders have sought assistance at the Center during its first three months of operation. A comprehensive review of the implementation of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme led to specific recommendations to policymakers on improving the scheme across the region. Despite consensus by Member States at ECOWAS, enforcement of ETLS protocols and decisions has been inconsistent and haphazard, discouraging trade and investment. Key recommendations adopted by the member states and ECOWAS at a regional workshop included establishing information centers at borders and express lanes for non-dutiable goods.

•    In FY 2009, ECOWAS Member States agreed on a 35% fifth tariff band after reviewing the Trade Hub’s study on the Common External Tariff and using a “partial equilibrium” tool to test revenue scenarios. In FY2011, tMember States have used the CET study to negotiate a final list of products for the fifth tariff band.

Telecommunications
•    Provided timely practical assistance to 37 export-ready companies on the use of productivity software and hardware via an ICT Help Desk.
•    Trained 203 export-ready companies’ managers in the use of eBizBox II, a set of ICT tools customized for exporting firms. Training included establishing social media presence and developing websites for broad consumer appeal.