Trade with Africa Business Summit

“Fragmentation in Africa brings with it small economies, small markets, un-competitiveness, which make African economies fail to grow at rates high enough to reduce poverty and overcome the underdevelopment trap. By creating one integrated African market, under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), we are transforming the landscape to bring in a large market of 1.27 billion people (expected to be 1.7 billion in the next eleven years) and large economies of scale and scope, which will in turn attract large-scale and long term investments. AfCFTA is supported by a comprehensive legal framework and offers attractive investment and trade opportunities.”

"What we have tried to do at Rwanda Trading Company was to establish an export business that paid as much as it could to the local farmers while still making enough of a profit to stay in business. We have been able to do this largely because we have invested in agronomy training programs for the farmers at the ground level. The Agronomy Training Program (ATP) goes through how do you manage not only your crop but how do you manage your finances and how do you invest in your community so that generations behind you can benefit from your labor. This is the hallmark of the business of Westrock Coffee. It is the heart and soul of why we do what we do. "

“At Afreximbank (African Export-Import Bank), we believe that the African Continent is marching forward and indeed has made great strides. The economic growth is projected to expand at the fastest pace in 5 years. More than half of the world’s fastest growing economy is African; Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Kenya, Uganda, Bukina Faso. The African middle class is projected to reach 1.1 billion by 2060 and by then more than half of every African would live in cities.”