AGOA Successes and Challenges

On Tuesday, August 8, 2017, Corporate Council on Africa hosted a private sectore dialogue at the 2017 AGOA Forum Private Sector Dialogue in Lome, Togo. The first panel included Mr. Olowo-n’djo Tchala, Founder and CEO, Alaffia, Ms. Brooke Buchanan, Vice President, Whole Foods Market, Ms. Etagegne Belay, Manager, Strategic Initiatives Office, PVH, and Mr. Olivier Bersia, General Manager, Flexknit, Madagascar. The moderator, Mr. Ikechukwu Ofuani, Senior Manager, Global Government Relations & Public Policy, Procter and Gamble, opened up the discussion by asking the panelists to identify the challenges and successes of AGOA.Mr. Tchala was the first to address the question posed by the moderator by saying that one of the challenges is a lack of understanding of a constantly changing US market. The remaining panelists agreed with that assessment. Alaffia initially started with 15 workers in Togo and then expanded across several West African countries with a total workforce of nearly 900 employees. With that many employees, they are able to aggregate their commodities to meet the large demand of the US market. They also paid attention to supplying consistent quality and timely delivery of commodities even if it meant they experienced a loss of profits. Whole Foods, their partner, agreed with their assessment of the U.S. market as well as other panelists. All panelists also agreed that organizing farmers into associations (i.e. cooperatives) to take advantage of economies of scale and reduce costs associated with transport should be encouraged.A great deal of time was spent on discussing how to take advantage of AGOA. All were supportive of USAID trade capacity building efforts but wondered if others, including more active governments could play a role in capacity building.The importance of infrastructure was heavily emphasized. The panelists agreed that governments are responsible for ensuring adequate infrastructure and an enabling environment (policy and regulations) that is supportive of business and trade.