COMESA trade centre to open
New Vision, Kampala
COMESA trade centre to open
28 July 2008
By Samuel Balagadde
Access to the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) will ease after opening of a trade centre in Kampala. Comesatradehub, an international export promotion company, will enable companies market and sell their products internationally.
Julius Magala, the chief executive officer of the Comesatradehub, said small and medium enterprises would gain much.
“The cost for a single company to effectively market themselves internationally can be prohibitive. The trade centre makes it possible by providing a venue where they can market and sell their products at a low cost,” Magala said.
The centre will consist of a showroom and export warehouse.
The showroom will be located on the second floor of Kamu Kamu Plaza and will be divided into seven compartments. Each compartment will have a specific category of goods like foods and beverages, health and beauty, electronics, household goods, construction materials, automotive products and stationery.
Sellers will display their products in the showroom, while the Comesatradehub will do the sales and marketing. All orders will be electronically placed with the sellers who will deliver the goods to the export warehouse.
Comesatradehub will then transport the goods to the buyer. All orders will be prepaid and guaranteed by Comesatradehub.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, Ugandan exports to COMESA grew to $506m in 2007, which is more than 60% of Uganda’s exports. The top COMESA markets are Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya and DR Congo. Sudan led the group, accounting for over $170m of Uganda’s export earnings from COMESA.
