“Twende”, meaning “Let’s go,” was initiated by one of the AAA Business Clubs in Kenya, which then expanded to the other Business Clubs and hence became an event which included all AAA Country Chapters.
Promoting regional trade is one of the Academy’s value proposition to its members.
Opportunities for agribased SMEs in the region are access to ICT opportunities, in that more farmers are a market for inputs, rural-urban migration has led to more land for farming in the rural areas, more funding opportunities have been availed to agribusiness companies and contracting farmers is s a win-win situation.
Quality assurance, development of business skills, attendance of value addition trainings and adoption of new processing innovations and technologies will help agribased SMEs to gain from the opportunities for trade within the region.
So far the main challenges which agribased SMEs face in the region are; inter-trade barriers, lack of access to finance, expensive raw materials, price fluctuations, poor transport infrastructure and road networks, lack of compliance to international processes like CAADP and poor produce handling.
