Recently, Rwanda began trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area in a pilot phase that seeks to test the environmental, legal, and trade policy basis for intra-African trade. It includes seven other African countries; Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania, and Tunisia. The first consignment of coffee from Igire Coffee Limited exported to Accra, Ghana marked the formal start of preferential trading under the AfCFTA. The New Times’ Alice Kagina had an exclusive interview with Briggette Harrington, President and CEO of Igire Coffee Limited, on what this development means to businesses as well as what can be done to have more Made-in-Rwanda products ready for the continental market. Below are excerpts. Share a brief background on what your company does Igire Coffee Limited is committed to uplifting –by way of financial resources –the women that grow coffee whom we work with. They are part of Hingakawa women’s coffee association and we have an annual agreement of purchasing so much of their coffee. In essence, we purchase coffee from them, roast it, sometimes grind it, package it and send it to the export market. Up until recently, exporting it has looked like ‘putting it into suitcases’ and taking it to Ghana, Nigeria, and the US, looking for a market. So, being under the AfCFTA is our first opportunity to actually bring coffee into a country through defined processes. Walk me through the different steps you took to export your first consignment under the AfCFTA I have a degree in International Business and I have been trading internationally for about 25 years now. This has helped me a lot and I am glad to walk you through the steps. After receiving the coffee from the women’s cooperative, we have it processed and packaged in Kigali. The coffee is then sent to the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) to have it labeled according to international standards. While we get in contact with the freight forwarder regarding the shipment, we simultaneously have to obtain a certificate of origin and another one of quality with an application done online. And payments are also done. In addition to that, we have to get the phytosanitary certificate. Now, once we have those three documents, they are sent to Rwanda customs to receive a certificate of origin under the AfCFTA. Without it, there is no basis for reduction of duty in whatever country it is going to. After that, the shipment has to go through the airport standard procedure for it to be flown to the desired destination and there is a new negotiated rate for air freight for products leaving Rwanda under the AfCFTA, which is $1.40/Kg with a minimum of 102Kg of the product. What do you think is hindering Rwandan businesses from taking advantage of the continental trade agreement? I think that people are just unaware and don’t know much about this, the fact being that it is a new trade agreement and I am not sure how many people have followed from the inception of when they started talking about one common market, free movement of people, goods and services throughout Africa. Honestly, the way that Igire Coffee became involved in the pilot project was because I was trying to figure out how to execute trade under the agreement and I contacted the Ministry of Trade and Industry to find out, because I understood that if I traded under the agreement, my duty would reduce by two and a half percent. So, as a businesswoman, my primary concern is to be able to reduce the amount of my landing cost anywhere. What should be done to have local products ready to be traded across different borders? In order for us to be able to compete is to know everything there is to know about the product, our target market, international labeling laws and what it means if your product violates those laws. Our biggest problem is packaging, not only in Rwanda but in Sub-Saharan Africa in general. The quality of products is there but we don’t necessarily have the packaging and the know-how to be able to figure out what we need to do logistically. What can happen, is being charged to re-export the product to where it came from or destroy it at their expense, for something simple as not putting the size or quantity on the label. Going forward, what are your next steps in trading under the AfCFTA? My primary focus is to get the products to consumers. It’s great to export and import products but until they are on the shelves in supermarkets selling, you have no business. My aim here is to get the products selling and have additional orders so we can sustain this trade we have started. I will also be doing coffee testing in Ghana during different events.
