KiaraShero89

There are more PhDs at the IBM Research lab than you can throw a hat at. And we learnt that they were working on all the big things that would change Africa – financial inclusion, health, traffic, education, name it.  When we were driving home, I wondered whether collectively, or individually, African countries have a group of people working together on future solutions as the IBM Research lab is doing.

In the years to come, this will have implications on how our lives play out in the rest of 21st Century Africa. I see a shift in how power will be exercised in the years to come. It will not come from owning the largest fleet of jet fighters or the largest army.

KAMPALA, Uganda - Women involved in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), are seemingly unaware of the various business opportunities available to them. This is despite the existence of the Common Market which provides for free movement of goods and services across the East African Community (EAC).

Experts say this is because they lack information and powers of interpretation, even as the region is fast integrating economically. Uganda’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Amelia Kyambadde last week said, some women doing cross-border trade still use panya routes to avoid taxes which were long ago scrapped with the coming of the Customs Union and Common Market.

The minister said such uninformed women are part of the 52% who make up the 11 million economically active Ugandan population. She said they are mostly in the SME sector which regional governments incresingly see as the engine of future rapid economic growth.

“Let’s sensitize them (women) about opportunities in East Africa. We need to disseminate this information to actual entrepreneurs. Let us simplify our form of communication. We are not at the same level of internalizing information,” Kyambadde said.

In the last decade, the EAC has undergone rapid changes as regards to economic integration and harmonization of key policies intended to make it more business friendly. These include the implementation of a customs union, common market and recent signing of a monetary union to accumulate in a single currency in 10 years. However women, especially those carrying out cross-border trade find it difficult to interpret the protocols and governments have not been overly helpful.

A consultative meeting in Kampala recently organised by TradeMark East Africa in partnership with the iCON Enterprise Foundation, East African Business Council and East African Women in Business Platform (EAWiBP) and attracted several leading women entrepreneurs.

What up Man?!