Capacity Building for Rwanda Export Institutions (AfCFTA Guided Trade)

The Project at A Glance

The entry into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is transformational for Africa’s trade landscape. However, some African countries like Rwanda, still need enough capacities to successfully implement the AfCFTA.

International Economics Consulting Ltd. with GIZ funding is conducting capacity building of Rwanda’s trade institutions (export support institutions) to develop new markets or introduce innovation in order to use new business opportunities in existing and new markets.

What We Found

The AfCFTA is one of the African Union’s (AU) flagship projects for implementation of its 2063 Agenda. The AfCFTA has the potential to allow Rwanda and its exporters to tap into Africa’s export market. The potential to increase Rwanda’s exports to the rest of Africa is significant, both in terms of market and product diversification.

However, the key challenges that Rwanda, as well as other African countries face when aiming to export to other African countries are the lack of knowledge of where opportunities lie in the African continent for exporting, and lack of understanding on how to find partners for sourcing raw materials, amongst others.

Improving the availability and access to information is one of the measures with the highest impact on developing country exports and our Team is assisting the GIZ in strengthening the capacity of Rwanda’s Export Support Institutions in terms of their knowledge and skills on foreign market analysis and improving the readiness of Rwandan companies to benefit from the AfCFTA and to increase their exports.

Our Strategy and Impact

Most export companies in Rwanda currently don’t have enough capacity in exporting their products. They lack information on potential market access opportunities, experience in dealing with international standards and quality requirements and international marketing skills as well as the necessary business contacts.

The project will rely on three specific strategies to deliver the services, adapted to the needs and characteristics of the key beneficiaries: the first strategy will focus on the training for the Export Support Institutions, the second strategy will target the training for individual companies, and the third strategy will focus on the individual coaching.

Our Team will start with conducting a Training Needs Assessment (TNA) to get a better understanding of the existing knowledge and technical capacity of the ESIs/companies. Based on the responses to the TNA, the team will design the coverage of the training modules, prepare the training material and deliver the training workshops in-person.

Our Core Solutions

As businesses seek to expand operations into new markets, the need to explore global supply chains and understand the international regulatory framework becomes crucial. At International Economics Consulting, we build tailor-made strategies for both import and export-oriented business solutions.