REGISTER OF RELIABLE POTENTIAL BUSINESS COUNTERPARTIES/PARTNERS


The biggest potential constraint to the success of AfCFTA, outside of actual operational challenges such as inadequate pan continental cargo transportation capacity, is the lack of ongoing firm business relationships between African enterprises that can serve as trade and information as to the enterprises that have the requisite corporate integrity and the financial/productive capacity to serve as reliable trade counterparties and investment partners. Consequently, ACT has been established to identify qualified counterparties/partners, with regards to institutional capacity, and to ascertain their integrity and reliability through due diligence as to their activities. Information and data on members will be made available to all other members around the continent. Importantly, enterprises with established track records of unethical corporate conduct will not be accepted as members. Thus ACT’s membership will also serve as a pan-continental register of enterprises worthy of serving as trade counterparties and investment partners.



NETWORKING AMONG MEMBERS
ACT will go on to facilitate networking and interactions between such enterprises Iin different countries to enable them discuss and conclude international trade and investment relationships and transactions. This will be done through regular meetings in the form of forums, workshops and conferences at both national and pan African levels. Here, teleconferencing and other forms of ICT driven virtual meetings will play a major role, due to the inordinately high cost of transportation and hotel accommodation in Africa. However, there will also be physical meetings, albeit mainly on sector/activity specific levels to intensify the focus achieved and thus raise the likelihood of firm relationships and/or transactions being initiated and where possible, actually concluded.



ECONOMIC/BUSINESS RESEARCH

Meetings, both physical and virtual will be supported by in-depth research conducted by ACT with the findings made available to members. Research will cover, specific identified business opportunities within countries and between countries; the economic structure and demographics of sovereign national consumer and business-to-business markets as well as regional and sub-regional markets; the legal frameworks, regulations and requisite processes for cross border trade and investment applied in member countries; and the business support and facilitation services required in each country and the service providers available.



CAPACITY BUILDING

ACT will also offer capacity building workshops and seminars for members, aimed at improving their capabilities with regards to cross border trade and investment within Africa and the creation of supply and value chains that transcend national borders.



BUSINESS ADVOCACY

ACT will be a prime, influential medium for business advocacy aimed at achieving regulatory and operational framework reform with a view to making the pan African, single market business operating environment more friendly to member countries and their enterprises; To this end ACT will engage in advocacy specific to sovereign jurisdictions as they affect cross border trade and investment as well as that aimed at both multilateral and bilateral trade and investment frameworks;



TRADE FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS

ACT will, in collaboration with relevant partner institutions – particularly national chambers of commerce - organize trade and investment fairs and product exhibitions in member countries which our member enterprises can leverage on to introduce, advertise and market their products for both domestic and foreign markets.



AWARD SCHEMES

Finally, ACT will organize events that identify and publicly recognize outstanding enterprises, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders, with regards to their performance and their conduct. This will be done in the form of annual award schemes.