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As global cargo volumes continued their downward spiral for the tenth consecutive month, African carriers posted the fastest growth of any region for the 11th consecutive month in January 2020, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata) FTW
EXPORT WEEK: FROM INFORMATION SHARING TO AN EVENT CONNECTING EXPORTERS TO MARKETS
FACT
After running for eight consecutive years, KwaZulu-Natal Export Week will take a breather this year and become a bi-annual event, alternating with the KwaZulu-Natal Investor Conference, which takes place in November this year, and the next Export Week in October 2021.
“This new arrangement will enable Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN) to give greater focus and effort around each of these events,” said Lester Bouah, TIKZN Executive Manager, Export Promotion. Export Week was launched in 2012 after
an international benchmarking exercise (embarked upon by our current CEO, Neville Matjie, when he was the Head of Exports at the time) with the aim of creating a dedicated date each year to update
KZN exporters and provide networking opportunities. “We found this concept had been successfully rolled out in Australia and the USA by regional Investment and Trade Promotion Agencies,” said Bouah.
The first export event was attended by about 50 local exporters, and was mainly an information knowledge based session. Since then, it has grown exponentially to become a four-day flagship event. In 2019, delegate numbers topped 700, including international delegates and the programme sported 39 speakers.
Looking at the numbers since inception, more than 2500 companies have participated; 300 experts have shared platforms or presented; some 60 exhibitors have showcased their products in the past
three years and the number of international countries attending has trebled to 19.
Four years ago, TIKZN decided to internationalise Export Week and attract international buyers who could meet local exporters showcasing their products. To this end, it was co-located with African Ports Evolution which has an international attendance. Since then, multiple international companies have attended including: Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania.
Every year the organisation has tried to
do things differently to keep the event interesting and up-to-date. “The world
of trade is very fluid and dynamic and is affected by a variety of events such as trade wars, political uncertainties and even coronavirus. We have had representatives from Pacific Alliance (Mexico, Columbia, Chili and Peru), South-East Asian Countries (Singapore and Malaysia etc.), EU and the UK to talk about the offerings of those markets to provide exporters with a sense of what there is externally,” said Bouah.
The workshops that kick off the event every year have been divided into two sessions – one for emerging exporters, and another for experienced exporters, followed by a site visit to various trade related facilities such as Dube TradePort and container depots.
“There was a need for aspiring exporters
to understand the whole value chain of exporting, so in 2019 the parallel sessions were very practical. One discussed using air-freight vs sea-freight; another, presented by South African and Ghanaian experts,
looked at exporting arts and crafts and the Agricultural Development Agency discussed the issues around exporting produce.”
By raising awareness and highlighting the importance of exports to the KwaZulu-Natal economy, Export Week aims to encourage black owned companies to capitalise on export opportunities. The Master Class
was presented by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) head quartered in Egypt, which provides export finance. While South Africa doesn’t have an export/ import finance bank, Afreximbank has now partnered with Export Credit Insurance Corporation of SA.
Bouah points out that TIKZN provides the platform but it’s up to exporters to use it to its fullest. For example, Board Express has garnered five export orders to Ghana, Zambia and Zimbabwe; Dick Whittington Shoes obtained an order for boots from the Zambia Air Force; companies from the European Union are pursuing opportunities in KZN and a carpet company with a large export order is pursuing finance from Afreximbank.
Steadfast partnerships which have made Export Week possible:
• The Department of Economic
Development Tourism and
Environmental Affairs
• The Chambers of Commerce
and Industry from Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Richards Bay, ILembe and Minara.
• Transnet National Ports Authority
• The Department of Trade & Industry
and its divisions -TISA, TIPS, ITAC
• Export Councils - SAFLEC, SAMDEC
• Industry Associations and Clusters-
SASSDA, B&MA
• Sister Entities - Dube Trade Port and
Richards Bay IDZ
• Institutes of Higher Learning -UKZN,
DUT, NWU, BER
• Certification Agencies -Bureau
Veritas, Intertek, SGS
• Export Credit Insurance Corporation
• Trade Commissioners and Embassies
based in Pretoria
• Various Industry Associations and
Export Councils
• International Mentorship Partnerships
with the Dutch (PUM), Germans (SES) and Swiss (SIPPO)
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