Entrepreneurs looking to get their products in international markets, particularly the USA should ensure that their products are already available in South Africa.
This was disclosed by Tammy Dlamini, Senior Country Representative (Angola and Eswatini) of the USAID Africa Trade and Investment Southern Africa Buy-in Activity programme.
The USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID TradeHub) engages with partners across the region to increase sustainable economic growth, global export competitiveness, and trade in targeted Southern African countries.
It supports these objectives by increasing exports from Southern African countries to South Africa and the United States (under the African Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA]), boosting capital and technology flows from South Africa to other Southern African countries, and providing targeted trade facilitation support to Zambia.
The USAID TradeHub works with market actors to identify and resolve enterprise constraints and implement sustainable solutions through market-based trade and investment facilitation services.
Dlamini was speaking during the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Capacity Building Event to Enhance the Utilization of AGOA, hosted in partnership with the Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA), at the Happy Valley Hotel.
The Senior Representative said South Africa is crucial because it is a big and industrialized market.
He said therefore once your products are already being exported to South Africa then the USA market and players develop an element of trust towards your products.
He said getting your product in large South African chain stores is extremely difficult, meaning that if local entrepreneurs can achieve that, it proves how competitive they are.
Furthermore, Dlamini disclosed that apart from local exporters getting their products into South Africa it is also crucial that they get their certification sorted.
“One of the most common challenges that we come across, especially from smaller economies like Eswatini is the certification issue. For instance, if an exporter is interested in having their products in global chain stores, they cannot achieve that without obtaining the Global Gap Certificate. Local businesses cannot also export to the USA without the FDA/FTA Certificate among other mandatory certificates,” he noted.
Dlamini further disclosed the major challenges facing local firms in entering the USA market.
“Having a preferential trade agreement with the USA does not automatically mean local businesses will have their products approved and exported to the USA. Exporters still have to prove that there is a buyer for their product, and the quantity must also be stated.”
The third factor that leads to local exporters failing to get the products in the USA is that their profile is not known. He said the business’s capabilities and requisite requirements should be known, such as certification.
“We have to be certain that you have the required infrastructure, and we must also know that you have the volumes to export consistently. Do you or your business have the skills that are required? We have observed in certain instances that exporters lack the skills of even being able to read the documentation.”
Please note that this is not exhaustive, but serves as key pointers.