Application Deadline: April 11, 2022 at 11:59pm Central African Time (CAT)
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.
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 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: (a) increase exports from the Southern African countries to South Africa; (b) increase exports from all the nine targeted Southern African countries to the United States, leveraging AGOA; and (c) support firms seeking specific trade-related technology transfer (e.g. labelling, 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.
Requirements:
- Are you 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.
Program Timeline:
Applications open: Thursday, March 31 2022
Applications close: Monday, April 11, 2022 at 11:59pm Central African Time (CAT)
Program Starts: Tuesday, May 3, 2022
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the AWIEF/USAID-funded program
