Exports sector primed and ready for continent-wide market - GEPA

Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the state exports facilitator, is in a strong position to be the backbone of export-based businesses competing in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with a plan to hand-hold and groom especially small and medium enterprises to play actively in the continental market.

A bold decision to go digital with its trade-enabling activities, with add-on investments in capacity building and mentorship across the value chain, has repositioned the authority to help Ghanaian exporters maximise the benefits of continental trade.

“Everything is set for us to play very well in the AfCFTA market. Our systems are in place, and so are the main pillars that are required of signatory states to be able to boost intra-Africa trade."

"There are a number of processing companies setting up now, and ours is to give them marketing support,” GEPA’s Director of Projects, Alexander Dadzawa said in an exclusive interview with Business24.

He added: “We are ready; we now have to do proper market research to identify the opportunities in those markets, then we can support the companies to go take advantage of them. We are good to go. Ghana is good to go. GEPA is good to go.”

As a dynamic institution, the authority has adjusted swiftly to the new normal by taking a good step to go digital with its processes and trade-specific activities to enable it perform its critical role of creating market access and global exposure for Ghanaian export businesses.

With its foresight and ready-business mindset, it has continued to execute its mandate seamlessly right from the onset of the pandemic, offering the requisite capacity building linkages and support to its clients.

The pandemic has negatively impacted the production capacity of exporters. At the same time, the usual physical market linkage activities they leveraged to sell their products and services and build partnerships have almost ground to a halt, but GEPA came good with innovative digital solutions.

It moved its activities such as trade fairs, B2B meetings, webinars and other capacity building exercises to the virtual space, using Zoom and other virtual platforms to continue serving its clients amid the virus crisis.

“Our major strategy now has been to move away from taking companies to trade fairs and other B2B platforms physically; we are now doing more of virtual and online."

"I think that this is the way to go, looking at the pandemic and the fact that it would take some time to settle, and we have to adjust to the situation. However, as we see the situation easing, it’s going to be a hybrid of both physical and virtual events,” Mr. Dadzawa indicated.

Currently, GEPA has boosted its web portal called “The Market Hub” with more resources and information on Ghanaian products and services. The authority has also established an ultramodern virtual trade information centre called “The GEPA Impact Hub” within the AfCFTA Secretariat building in Accra.

The centre, a sort of digital library, has useful resources that SMEs, export-oriented businesses and any other person interested in the exports business can use to acquire relevant knowledge. It is a congenial set-up with computers, B2B meeting rooms and Zoom facilities.

“Gradually, people are making use of this facility, and we feel that’s the way forward,” said GEPA’s director of projects on the new resource centre."

At the centre of these interventions is the desire to build the right competences, competitiveness and robust support systems that will be the springboard for the nation’s participation in the AfCFTA.

GEPA also intends to provide guidance and direction to export businesses that benefit from government financial support, ensuring that they channel the help towards becoming ready and competitive for the single market.

The authority has set targets for the AfCFTA in the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS), which was launched last year to coincide with the opening of the AfCFTA Secretariat in Accra. The strategy seeks an ambitious US$25bn in non-traditional exports revenue within the next decade.

Revenue from non-traditional exports stood at US$2.9bn in 2019 and probably stagnated in 2020 on account of the coronavirus shock. This means the authority has already lost one year in its ambition to grow non-traditional exports revenue to reach the 10-year target.

It is, however, hopeful that arrangements and new ways of doing business would help keep the plan on track.

“Our response mainly has to do with how we can take advantage of the AfCFTA market. That’s our focus now, and fortunately, the ground is ready for us and Ghana is ready. All the structures have been put in place; we have our industrial policy being championed by the Trade and Industry Ministry within the 1D1F.

What we are going to do as GEPA is to provide that support to all the structures that are in place so that the companies under our fold can take advantage of them. We are currently doing needs assessment for a lot of these companies,” said Mr. Dadzawa.

For impactful empowerment and lasting productivity of local exporters in the AfCFTA, GEPA has adopted a “20-100-200” strategy, which is a more targeted approach to hand-hold and empower exporters that have huge potential to exploit the continental market, starting with the first top-20 companies.

Proposals for this initiative have been prepared and will soon be rolled out, according to the authority, pending the completion of specific need assessments of the selected beneficiaries that will enable them to double their output.

“The steps that we are taking are in the right direction, and we expect some results to come,” he said.