The Private sector Federation (PSF) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs have launched a countrywide campaign to promote use of barcodes as the country prepares to introduce its own barcodes in March.

A barcode is an optical, machine-readable, representation of data; the data usually describes something about the object that carries the barcode.

Barcodes are used to encode products, serial and batch numbers as one of the best practices to ensure competitiveness, especially in global markets.

The codes also play a key role in supply chains, enabling retailers, manufacturers, transport providers and hospitals to automatically identify and track products in transit. However, Rwanda has been relying on its neighbours, including Kenya and Tanzania, to get codes for its products.

Geoffrey Kamanzi, the PSF director for trade facilitation and negotiations, said the campaign seeks to create awareness to  ensure manufacturers, traders, exporters and general public understand the importance of barcodes, which are critical to promote the country’s exports.

Kamanzi added that manufactures and exporters must embrace these codes to become more competitive.

Last year, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs and the International Trade Centre (ITC) pledged to establish a barcoding system to make it easy for Rwanda’s products to penetrate global markets.

Francois Kanimba, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and EAC Affairs, said at the time that government and the ITC were working on a strategy that will help Rwanda acquire its own barcodes from Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI).

This, according to Kanimba, will help locally-made products to become more competitive in regional and global markets.

He added that embracing barcodes is essential for the exports sector, noting that it will also help attract more investors into the country.

Rwanda was encouraged to get a packaging centre and barcodes for the country to tap into global business opportunities. It was also advised by the global trade organisation to work with other countries, including Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana to share knowledge and experience about bar-coding.

Rwanda targets an annual export growth of 28 per cent under the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) that ends in 2018.

According to trade experts, embracing barcodes is a step closer towards the realisation of this objective.

According to Claudine Mukeshimana, the executive director of the Rwanda Association of Manufacturers (RAM), industrialists have for long been lobbying to have barcodes.

"Therefore, the move will boost the sector and export trade,” she said, adding that some manufacturers often overlook the codes to "cut costs and save time”.

"Without barcodes, companies that maintain huge inventories would have to scale back. It is, therefore, important to understand that the codes are coming to make such operations efficient,” she added.