USAID co-investment grant to Coliba SARL will help reduce plastic pollution, create jobs in Abidjan ABIDJAN, CÔTE d ’IVOIRE  – Reducing plastic pollution, recycling plastic waste for industrial use, and creating hundreds of jobs in Côte d’Ivoire are the goals of a USAID-funded grant from the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) to […]

Ambassador Virginia E. Palmer, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Marks First Official Trip to Tamale with Tree Planting Ceremony with Nuts for Growth By: Akua Nana Mensah, Communication Specialist The global demand for shea has continued to rise over the last few decades, pushed by an increased demand for cocoa butter alternatives (used for natural cosmetics […]

Twenty-one-year-old Waïba Agoro learned the basics of hive management and collecting honey and beeswax through her family’s beekeeping business. In her small farming community, Affem-Boussou, located in Togo’s Central Region, the income she generates from selling honey and beeswax provides a steady stream of income, especially in the dry season when money can be hard […]

Entreprise Aïssatou Gaye supports a woman’s paddy rice season in Ross Bethio  By Fatima Datt, Communication Specialist Rice is a strategic product for food security and nutrition in Senegal, occupying a prominent place for the population. In recent years the rice sector has undergone a clear consolidation, with a considerable increase in production volumes. Posing […]

L’Entreprise Aïssatou Gaye soutient la campagne de riz paddy d’une femme à Ross Bethio Par Fatima Datt, Communication Specialist Le riz est un produit stratégique pour la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition au Sénégal, occupant une place de choix pour la population. Ces dernières années, le secteur du riz a connu une nette consolidation, avec […]

USAID’s West Africa Trade and Investment Hub partners with high-performing private-sector companies to improve food insecurity in West Africa By Robin Wheeler Abuja, Nigeria – Many people around the world might find it difficult to pinpoint the specific ways the conflict thousands of miles away between Ukraine and Russia is impacting the global economy. The […]

By Habiba Suleiman, Project manager-WACOT Rice Impact investment aims at combining competitive financial returns with positive change for people and the environment. This underlies WACOT Rice’s growing interest in creating market opportunities for investments that support environmental and social goals. It is upon this foundation that WACOT Rice’s Trade Hub-supported rice out-grower program was established […]

“In traditional investment, risk and return go hand-in-hand, but what I like …specifically about blended finance, is that there is a third element, which is impact.”   Hann Verheijen, Managing Director, Cordaid Investment Management  Financing for social impact projects or projects geared toward achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is typically provided through a […]

By Blessing Lass, Senior Communication Specialist The week of May 16th was an exciting one for the Trade Hub team, as many colleagues met face-to-face for the first time since the project’s inception. In 2019, the USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub kicked-off with about 20 staff members across the region, particularly in four […]

A Gender-Lens Investor, ShEquity Aims to Close the Gender Funding Gap in Africaby Providing Smart Investment to African Female-owned and Led Businesses  Abuja, Nigeria, May 26, 2022 – With a $1.2 million co-investment grant from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub), ShEquity Partners (ShEquity), an investment firm that promotes women’s entrepreneurship […]

By David Lederer, Project Manager, Red River Foods Yao Wilfried Kouadio, 26, lives in a small community in the Sakassou region of Côte d’Ivoire called Konankro, located in the country’s dense, lush, central region where cashew trees dot the landscape. While sun-loving cashew trees grow quickly here, without appropriate spacing they fail to produce their […]

By Malik Abdoul, Marketing and Sales Manager, Global Mamas For over a decade, Ghana’s Volta River has been attacked by the water hyacinth, a type of invasive weed. Dubbed the “poison flower,” this fast-growing plant negatively impacts the ecology within the river and the economic potential of those who depend it for both food and […]

By Nana Akua Mensah, Communication Specialist On May 5, 2022, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) held the event “Empowering Women in Ghana’s Apparel Sector: Challenges and Success Strategies.” The event highlighted the work of three co-investment partners in the Ghanaian apparel sector—DTRT Apparel, Ethical […]

By Nana Akua Mensah, Communication Specialist The Nigerian agricultural sector is the country’s largest employer, with *smallholder farmers constituting the majority of the agricultural workforce. Despite the fact that women smallholder farmers make up nearly half of that number, they continue to face a growing financial inclusion gap. The gender gap is having a detrimental […]

By Frantz Tavares, Public-Private Partnerships Consultant USAID and Trade Hub representatives were able to see firsthand the progress co-investment partners in the island nation of Cabo Verde have made during field visits held March 14–21, 2022. The companies visited were Inpharma Laboratorios, Agrosoluções, SUCLA, Fresk D’Gustinh, and Injaro/Procapital. Collectively, these partnerships are expected to spur […]

By Nana Akua Mensah, Communications Specialist When most people think of beekeeping, they don’t associate the trade with helping to prevent the devastating spread of deforestation. But in global biodiversity hotspots like the Tai-Greba-Krahn-Sapo Forest Landscape between Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire, beekeeping has proven to be not just an income-generator for farmers, but also an […]

USAID / Prosper Africa co-investment grant to Yolélé and Mali Shi SA will improve smallholder value chains and create 13,700 jobs in Mali Bamako, Mali —The ancient grain fonio has been grown as a subsistence crop in West Africa for over 5,000 years. A new venture in Mali called Sustainable African Foods (SAF) is turning […]

By Nana Akua Mensah, Communications Specialist “Our duty is to find the human element that moves audiences to connect and inspires them to action,” asserted Bettina Boateng, Senior Supervisory Regional Development Outreach and Communications Specialist for USAID West Africa. Boateng expressed this as the primary principle guiding all communications work in her address to the […]

Accra, Ghana – U.S. Ambassador Stephanie S. Sullivan today announced new co-investments by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) totaling $4.2 million with five companies operating in Ghana.  These projects, leveraged with private sector funds, will help these companies scale up operations, develop export opportunities, and create jobs.  Ambassador Sullivan made the announcement during the […]

“There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.”—Secretary-General Kofi Annan As we celebrate International Women’s Day today, March 8, 2022, the staff of the USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) would like to use the occasion to salute women across the world, who, as this day’s theme […]

West Africa Water is a pioneer in the production of safe drinking water in Senegal, made possible by its decentralized and low-cost desalination system to treat brackish water. With a $505,000 (287 million CFA) Trade Hub co-investment grant, the company is building upon its goal of expanding and growing its network of water kiosks in […]

By Blessing Lass, Senior Communications Specialist  Over the past 4 months, the Trade Hub awarded approximately $21 million in co-investment grants to 28 companies, bringing our total number of co-investment partners to 71. The grants, ranging from $250,000 to $2 million, were made possible through USAID missions throughout the region, as well as through dedicated […]

By Andy HarvellOwner of Harvell Vendor Services Finding the right U.S. retailers for your food-based products is critical to ensure the products you have worked so hard to develop, perfect, and package are accessible and marketed effectively to your intended customers. But first you must understand the levels and types of retailers, as well as […]

By Akinyi Ochieng, Lead, Marketing and Communications, Partnership for Natural Ingredients Over the last two decades, the global trade in raw cashew nuts has more than doubled to 2.1 billion kilograms. While African countries have driven this boom, cashew farmers like Kate Gyabaah have rarely seen an increase in their incomes despite the growing international […]

Written by: Aja Beckham The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity among the Nigerian population, particularly those in rural farming communities, who are among the most vulnerable and adversely affected by this ongoing health and economic crisis. Kola Masha, Managing Director of Babban Gona, a Nigerian-based agri-tech social enterprise, says that since the Trade Hub awarded […]

Webinar to Highlight How Supporting West African Farmers’ Beekeeping Initiativesis a Win for Farmers, Agribusinesses, and the Environment WHAT: Webinar: From Farm to Beehive: Why Introducing Farmers to Beekeeping is a Win for Farmers, Agribusinesses & the Environment.” WHEN: Feb. 24, 2022, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. WAT (1 p.m.–3:30 p.m. GMT; 8 a.m.-10:30 […]

The West Africa Trade & Investment Hub started the new year under the leadership of a new Chief of Party, Robin Wheeler. Based in the Trade Hub’s headquarters of Abuja, Wheeler will guide the project in its mission to empower and work with the private sector to meet some of the region’s most pressing sustainable […]

$1.5 million awarded for projects that will improve the health of Senegalese DAKAR, SENEGAL – Improving sanitation and increasing access to clean drinking water in Senegal are the goals of two companies recently awarded a collective $1.5 million (842 million FCFA) in co-investment grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s regional initiative, the […]

Abuja, Nigeria—Limited access to capital remains a high barrier to growth for many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in West Africa, a challenge compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.  In its continued efforts to support high-potential SMEs in the region during this crisis and the companies that finance them, the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has launched a $10.2 million co-investment partnership with Tolaro Global, a leading cashew-processing company in Benin, to strengthen the country’s certified organic cashew nut market and help meet the growing demand for cashew products among U.S. and European consumers. In support of this goal, Tolaro […]

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub), has launched a $24 million (13 billion CFA) co-investment partnership with the Senegalese financial leasing institution Locafrique to build on its momentum of prioritizing the agricultural sector in Senegal, as well as increasing access to credit for businesses […]

For smallholder farmers in Ghana producing shea butter, bees are normally pests to swat away. But these insects will soon prove invaluable to farmers thanks to a $2 million, 3-year partnership between the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) mission in Ghana, the USAID/ West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub), and Burt’s Bees®, an American […]

DAKAR, SENEGAL – To address the urgent need to improve the health of women and children in Senegal, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub), is offering co-investment grants up to $500,000 for private firms and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that offer creative and innovative healthcare solutions. To […]

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has awarded a $518,000 co-investment grant to La Laiterie du Berger, a company that manufactures dairy products from locally produced milk in Senegal. The grant will allow the company to source milk from 1,150 new herders and further its efforts to reduce the country’s dependence on […]

Through a $1.1 million co-investment grant from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub), Senegal-based agribusiness firm Agro Boye will increase its production capacity of horticultural products, helping to reduce food insecurity and import-dependency in the country. The company’s three-year partnership with the Trade Hub builds on a successful pilot project that the agribusiness […]

Abuja, Nigeria—The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has awarded a 494 million naira ($1.2 million) co-investment grant to Tomato Jos Farming and Processing Limited (Tomato Jos) to boost the productivity, incomes, and resilience of maize and soybean smallholder farmers in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna State. Kaduna State is home to approximately 1.3 […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub awarded co-investment grants totaling $1.43 (780 million in francs CFA) across three promising Senegalese companies—the online fresh-grocery delivery Club Tiossane and two women-led food companies, Biosene and Enterprise Aissatou Gaye (EAG). The investments will help these businesses meet market demands, create employment and mitigate the economic impact […]

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, has awarded a $1.2 million co-investment grant to Warc Group, a social enterprise with  agricultural production and consulting operations in Ghana and Sierra Leone, to help smallholder farmers in Ghana’s Upper West Region. The company’s subsidiary, Warc Ghana, will […]

By Chaz Kyser There is rising global demand for cashews and cashew-based products, including in the United States where at least 90,000 metric tons of this nutritious nut is imported every year. West African-based cashew processors have long recognized the potential to export this commodity to the United States, but have faced hurdles surrounding developing […]

Through the West Africa Agriculture Resilience Program,10,000 smallholders will increase crop yields and their incomes The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has awarded a $500,000 co-investment grant to PYXERA Global, a not-for-profit with extensive experience designing training and capacity-building programs, to support the launch of its West Africa Agriculture Resilience Program (WAFARP). This program will assist […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has awarded a $1.4 million co-investment grant to OCP Africa Fertilizers Nigeria Limited (OCP Africa), a leader in the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, to install modern blending equipment within its fertilizer blending plant facility under construction in Kaduna State. The top-in-class blending equipment will help bridge the gap where there […]

Red River Foods/Trade Hub partnership to create long-term,sustainable incomes throughout the cashew value chain West Africa is poised to be the next largest exporter of cashew kernels to the U.S. market through a $3 million co-investment partnership between the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) and Red River Foods (RRF), a leading global supplier of plant-based […]

Abuja, NIGERIA—Building on its work to boost food security in Nigeria through technology-driven agricultural services, Thrive Agric has launched an ambitious 1-year project to support 50,000 smallholder farmers growing rice, maize, and soybean. As part of its commitment to strengthening agricultural value chains in the country, including for these three staple crops, the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & […]

West African women seeking to do business beyond their borders gained special insight during a May 28th webinar hosted by the Trade Hub titled “Exporting to the U.S. Duty-Free & Partnering with the Trade Hub: Keys to Success for Women-Led Businesses.” More than 200 women joined the 2-hour session, including members of the Borderless Trade Network […]

Argungu – At a May 19 ceremony in Argungu, Nigeria, U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard joined Kebbi State Executive Governor H.E. Sen. Abubakar Bagudu and private and public-sector stakeholders committed to ensuring food security in Nigeria to launch a co-investment partnership between the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) and WACOT Rice. The […]

Abuja, NIGERIA—Through a $1.7 million co-investment from the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Development Hub, Adefunke Desh Nigeria (ADN), an agribusiness specializing in the cultivation and processing of grains, will embark on its expansionary drive to significantly scale its operations. This project will be instrumental in improving ADN’s competitiveness, in turn boosting the incomes of its partner smallholder […]

The partnership focuses on investing to improve productivity, trade, and stabilization of employment in Nigeria’s aquaculture value chain Nigeria is one of the largest farmed fish producers in Sub-Saharan Africa, with catfish being the most farmed species, including in the Niger Delta region. There, prior to the pandemic, artisanal small-scale fishers had been successful in […]

Bobo-Dioulasso, BURKINA FASO—The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) is awarding $1 million to seed company Neema Agricole du Faso (NAFASO), based in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. The grant and private sector partnership with NAFASO that it facilitates will boost rice production in Burkina Faso, an effort key to improving food security in the country. The […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has awarded a $1.1 million co-investment grant to 8 Degrees North, a Ghanaian palm oil processing company, to support smallholder farmers in West Africa to access the growing market for organic palm oil in the United States. The co-investment project will considerably boost profits for smallholders and […]

Abuja, Nigeria—The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has launched a co-investment partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), through its Business Incubation Platform (IITA BIP), to boost the soybean value chain in Nigeria. The IITA BIP provides expertise and training in commercial agriculture and farm management, as well as opportunities for […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has awarded a $499,000 grant to Nigerian-based REMIF REMS Nigeria Ltd,  a major agro-based service provider in Nigeria. The aim of the co-investment partnership is to improve food security and health safety measures for farmers in the southern region of Nigeria. In Nigeria, rice is a major staple […]

Abuja, Nigeria—The West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) has unveiled a Virtual DealRoom giving global investors information and access to the Trade Hub’s growing pipeline of impact business opportunities. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Trade Hub aims to catalyze economic growth in West Africa utilizing a market-based approach. Through its co-investment fund, […]

West Africa’s agribusiness sector will soon benefit from millions of dollars in private investment through a co-investment partnership between the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub and CrossBoundary, an investment and economic development advisory services firm specializing in underserved markers. As part of the agreement, CrossBoundary will leverage Trade Hub’s $1.5 million grant to channel at least […]

Even prior to the pandemic, West Africa was viewed by potential investors as a region ripe with opportunities but associated with too much risk to bank on because of countries’ often fragile economies. In a March 16th webinar, public-private sector stakeholders and those involved in trade and development in Africa learned how Stichting Cordaid, through […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has announced a co-investment partnership with Togo shea company Agbanga Karite Alaffia SARL to secure $299,000 worth of shea kernels and other raw materials for the company’s 2021 production of shea butter products sold in the United States and other markets. With the co-investment made possible by Prosper Africa, the upfront purchase […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has signed a co-investment partnership with Global Mamas to support the company’s drive for sustainable growth post-pandemic and promote the goals of the U.S. Government’s Prosper Africa initiative to increase two-way trade and investment. A natural partner for the Trade Hub, Global Mamas is a Ghana-based social enterprise that works with women across […]

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub), utilizing Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) funds, will establish a model factory with Ethical Apparel Africa and Maagrace Garment Industries in Ghana’s Eastern region.  This partnership will accelerate women’s economic empowerment in the apparel manufacturing industry by setting high […]

In partnership with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has announced its first co-investment project with Stichting Cordaid (Cordaid), managed by Cordaid Investment Management B.V. (CIM), to increase the access to finance by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Sierra Leone.  Due […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has announced a co-investment partnership with Koster Keunen, a leading natural waxes company, that will support West African smallholder farmers by organizing and improving beeswax supply chains from the region. The partnership, which promotes the goals of the U.S. Government’s Prosper Africa initiative to increase two-way trade […]

The USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has announced its first co-investment partnership with WACOT Rice Limited, a Nigerian rice company based in Kebbi State. The Trade Hub’s grant of $1.48 million will directly support its Argungu Rice Outgrower Expansion Project, allowing WACOT to onboard an additional 5,143 rice farmers into its program designed […]

Across Western Africa, women entrepreneurs often are confronted with challenges to expand their successful small businesses. Despite evidence of strong growth potential, women-owned businesses continue to encounter difficulties accessing finance and support services. They also lack information to expand their businesses beyond traditional markets. As palm oil producer and business owner Tahara Haidara Diallo recalls, […]

On August 12th, the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub announced a rapid response plan to deploy $36 million supplementary funding provided by USAID to mitigate the pandemic’s socio-economic impact in West Africa. This recovery plan includes new Co-Investment funding that targets the private sector and is designed to address critical economic areas through three […]

The COVID-19 pandemic will change business as usual with regards to trade between the United States and Africa and overall economic development activities on that continent, said the Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. government’s Prosper Africa initiative. “We’ll need a new level of creativity, connection, and commitment in the coming year amidst this pandemic,” […]

Creative’s Senior Advisor for Gender and Social Inclusion, Rebecca Sewall, sat down (virtually!) with Chioma Ukwuagu, the Gender Advisor for the USAID-funded West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, to talk about how the project’s goals of providing female entrepreneurs greater access to capital and jobs, breaking down cultural barriers in the business world and the […]

Good day to all, Like others across the world, you are undoubtedly being confronted with the realities we all face from the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic. Governments, businesses, and households are taking precautionary measures to limit this outbreak and protect civilians, colleagues, and our loved ones from infection. The Trade Hub has already implemented these measures […]

ABUJA, Nigeria—More than 250 Nigerian government officials, business executives, and other stakeholders officially launched the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, which seeks to bolster trade, employment, and innovation in key sectors. The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard kicked off the Jan. 28 launch by highlighting the Trade Hub’s commitment to forging partnerships with West Africa’s […]

ABUJA, Nigeria –The recently launched West Africa Trade and Investment Hub aims to create 40,000 new jobs, bolster trade between the U.S. and West Africa, and foster innovation through co-investments in key sectors. Though a number of obstacles have hindered sustainable economic development, the Trade Hub’s mission is to empower the private sector to meet those […]