Afro Ark of Rwanda and the Resilience Organization of South Sudan are currently jointly developing a digital platform called ‘Buy East Africa’. This platform, supported by the East African Community and GIZ through the Incubator for Integration and Development in East Africa (IIDEA), is an e-Commerce platform, connecting women and youth entrepreneurs in agribusiness between Rwanda and South Sudan. It responds to the socio-economic needs of youth and women entrepreneurs in both South Sudan and Rwanda and improves their connections to enhance bilateral trade. The platform has the potential to replace the traditional laborious and costly business method involving customers travelling from place to place looking for the products they need.
“Youth and women entrepreneurs in both Rwanda and South Sudan will identify a selection of quality agro-based products to be listed on the 'Buy East Africa' e-Commerce platform and widen their choices to order agricultural products. Customers will be able to compare products and prices and make choices according to their needs and financial means. The transaction process will be much quicker as the buyer and the seller are in constant contact, which cuts down on the time the women and youth entrepreneurs take moving from place to place to source the products they need”, explains Patience Iribagiza, Executive Director of Afro Ark.
All functionalities will be in place within the six-months project duration and well designed to facilitate a trustable market of quality-assured products, market price information through extensive product descriptions, reviews by customers, content moderation, and producer identity verification and pricing. The platform will drastically improve the volume of trade between women and youth entrepreneurs involved in agribusiness between Rwanda and South Sudan.
The platform is to be launched in both Rwanda and South Sudan before the end of the project phase at the end of May 2022, and stakeholders at the launch will share the information of the event on their social media platforms. Youth and women entrepreneurs will use their phones and internet access to get the information published by partners during the launch that will be covered by media. Besides, the project will also conduct TV and radio adverts that will reach many youth and women entrepreneurs in both Rwanda and South Sudan that access either or both channels for them to check on the "Buy East Africa" e-Commerce platform.
You can find more information on the project here.
Learn more on IIDEA here.