AWIEF USAID-funded program for SMEs Investment and Export Readiness
AWIEF announces her new program in partnership with USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID TradeHub).
The USAID-funded ‘Enhanced Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Investment and Export Readiness Through a Digital Platform’ program aims to increase the investor, export readiness, and competitiveness of 100 SMEs in nine Southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia.
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About the Program
The program leverages the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a United States Trade Act that significantly enhances market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, and is valid until 2025, to drive export trade for the SMEs. Priority industry sectors include Agriculture, Agro-processing, Textiles, Apparels.
The objectives of this new AWIEF program are to;
- increase exports from the Southern African countries to South Africa;
- increase exports from all the nine targeted Southern African countries to the United States, leveraging AGOA; and
- support firms seeking specific trade-related technology transfer (e.g. labeling, branding, laboratories). The program will help strengthen participants’ governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management capabilities.
The 8-week program will be implemented as an online training course through the AWIEF digital platform – the AWIEF Community.
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Eligibility Criteria
- You should be an SME registered and operating in one of these Southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia?
- Are you either already exporting or interested in exporting your products to South Africa and/or to the United States leveraging AGOA?
- Are you seeking to raise capital for business expansion and international trade?
Priority industry sectors include Agriculture, Agro-processing, Textiles, and Apparel.
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How to Apply for AWIEF USAID-funded Program
Applications are invited from suitably qualified and eligible candidates who meet the above criteria to submit their application online via the AWIEF application portal here https://awieforum.typeform.com/exporttrade
Application Deadline
The application closes on Monday, April 11, 2022, at 11:59 pm Central African Time (CAT).
The program commences on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.
For more information visit the official of AWIEF, here https://www.awieforum.org/ or contact: [email protected]
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