An eight-person delegation (including a political analyst, two social media executives, and a blogger) from the ONE campaign learned about the USAID West Africa Trade Hub’s work in the Home Décor and Fashion Accessories sector in Ghana. www.one.org

Business
420 stakeholders from 36 countries – including every shea-producing country in West Africa – participated in “Shea 2012: Shared Value,” the fifth annual shea industry conference in Cotonou, Benin. Benin’s Minister of Commerce and Industry and the U.S. Ambassador opened the conference on April 25. Stakeholders reached consensus on and launched a program to ensure shea nut quality across West Africa and an initiative to increase the use of shea-based cocoa butter equivalents in chocolate in the U.S.  Bloomberg news service, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio France International, Voice of America and national print and broadcast media in Benin reported on Shea 2012, bringing news of the conference to millions around the world. www.globalshea.com

More than 250 shea industry stakeholders participated in two days of training preceding the fifth annual shea industry conference in Cotonou, Benin. Topics included access to finance, marketing and branding, cosmetics formulation and shea tree promotion.

More than 70 shea businesses, service providers, buyers and traders participated in over 400 meetings during a business-to-business event organized during the fifth annual shea conference, “Shared Value,” in Cotonou, Benin.

Basket weavers in Ghana are busy filling orders from buyers in the U.S. and Europe after receiving market linkages assistance from the USAID Trade Hub. The Trade Hub worked with basket weaving groups in Bolgatanga in northern Ghana to follow up on production of the baskets. More than 600 women and 250 men are involved in the groups and the orders were the first they had received in a year, they said. www.africa-now.org

3 fashion designers and 1 bead designer-manufacturer from Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia and Ghana showcased their designs with assistance from the USAID Trade Hub at Origin Africa, a trade show held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The companies made several positive contacts and sold out their products; 2 established distributor agreements for their products in east Africa. www.sourceafrica.com

Transport
More than 150 stakeholders from across West Africa at a regional conference on Joint Border Posts in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The event featured the introduction of a new source book on the operations of Joint Border Posts – which compiles best practices in the operations of the posts. Stakeholders are seeking ways to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Joint Border Posts, which are costly to build, said USAID Trade Hub participants. www.borderlesswa.com

The Borderless Alliance presented the latest data on checkpoints, bribes and delays across West Africa to 50 stakeholders at the fifth annual shea conference in Cotonou, Benin. The team also organized a panel discussion on supply chain logistics in the shea sector which included major exporters of shea nuts and butter in West Africa. www.borderlesswa.com
 
Business Environment
52 stakeholders in Cote d’Ivoire participated in a Borderless Alliance Breakfast to discuss transport and logistics issues and the upcoming Borderless conference, “Transforming Trade,” which is being held in Abidjan, May 15-17. www.borderlesswa.com