WCA speaks at the Access to Finance Seminars at the East Africa Community's Market Access Upgrade Forum in Mombasa (Kenya).
Mombasa, February 12th, 2020 WCA (Working Capital Associates) LLP's Relationship Manager & Origination, Gathuo Ngoroje, today was speaking at the Invitation Only session on "Innovation financial schemes in the coffee industry", within the at the East Africa Community (EAC) Coffee Business Forum in Mombasa, Kenya. The session was targeted at selected coffee SMEs to dscuss different financial sources to fund their businesses and services available for SMEs in the coffee value chain, especially for value addition projects. The Forum is part of the Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP) https://www.eacmarkup.org/ , an initiative conceived by the EAC Secretariat in partnership with the European Union (EU) and implemented by various agencies, including the International Trade Centre and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The MARKUP aims to increase exports of agribusiness and horticultural products and promote regional integration and access to the European market by addressing specific challenges that SMEs, Trade and Investment Support Institutions (TISIs) and policy-makers face in access regional and EU export markets. For the first time, the Forum brings together public and private stakeholders to discuss concrete solutions to boost trade and investment opportunities for coffee exporters. The event feature talks by high-level officials of the EAC Secretariat, Government of EAC Partner States, AFCA as well as investors, corporations and institutions. Themes of the event will include the removal of coffee trade barriers, with a spotlight on the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement; innovative mechanisms to facilitate access to credit and buyer and investor priorities are acting upon.