Tapping a Market

African Entrepreneurs are Going Global

As a descendent of South Africa's Khoi peoples, Wilfred Arends has long known the healing and medicinal qualities of the succulent shrubs that grow wild on the hillsides of South Africa's Eastern Cape.

Now Wilfred is sharing the secrets of the aloe ferox plant with the world, by harvesting its leaves for their bitter sap to be made into health drinks, dietary supplements, medicines, and cosmetics. Wilfred is a member of a cooperative of aloe tappers in Seymour, South Africa, who own Ikhala Products, a company that makes aloe skin care and grooming products called African Male, which are now sold across North America.

Ikhala met its Ottawa-based distributor, Men's Essentials, as part of a mission to Canada for South African cosmetics companies organized by the Program for building African Capacity for Trade (PACT), which provides businesses with training and technical assistance and helps them find trade opportunities overseas.

Because trade is a powerful engine for economic growth and poverty reduction, Canada is supporting the program, which helps to improve the export competitiveness of African companies and foster links with international markets, particularly in Europe and North America, and especially benefits disadvantaged groups and women.

Many of the made-in-Africa products these groups are working to bring to market involve natural resources, handicrafts, and textiles. The goal is to "brand" such traditional goods to appeal to high-end, ethically-minded shoppers and create an innovative and contemporary image of Africa in the eyes of international buyers.

For example, calling themselves Design Africa, enterprising artisans from across the continent took advantage of PACT's assistance and turned heads at Canada's premier interior design trade show, the 2006 Salon international du design d'intérieur de Montréal. One of the companies, Diallo Designs from Mali, won first prize in the show's international design category. Ultimately the success and growth of such companies, many of them owned and managed by women, will result in better jobs and livelihoods for the communities they support.

Women in Africa face obstacles in exporting internationally, with limited access to training, business networks, financial services, and supply chains. A PACT initiative called ACCESS! is helping African businesswomen in 11 countries improve their export-readiness through training, mentoring and a Web portal where they can find trade information. As of March 2011, more than 200 women exporters had received training.

This has paid off for Mymona Nassiep, whose company, Afri-Mystique Cosmetics in South Africa's Western Cape, makes toiletries out of natural ingredients such as rooibos, tea tree and kelp. The training she received under ACCESS! helped Mymona to strike her first big deal with the giant Costco chain to sell Afri-Mystique's products in its stores in Asia. "You have to have the knowledge of the whole system and know what to expect," Mymona says. "It's a big world out there."



To find out more, consult the project profile in CIDA's Project Browser.