SUS-AFRICs Worldwide Initiative for Facilitating Trade in Africa

Developing African brands to have a competitive advantage worldwide. This is a mentorship program for local manufacturing companies in Africa, to conduct research on the product, improve product quality to meet international standards, develop market access strategies and cross boarder trade preparedness and facilitation. 

The key modules covered under the program are 

1. Market Research - helps Manufacturing companies in evaluating market size, trends, competitive landscape, and customer demographics within a specific market. It helps assess whether the product has a chance of success, identifies opportunities, and informs enterprises’ product and marketing strategies.

2. Consumer Study - Supports Manufacturing companies to understand customer needs, preferences, behaviors, and experiences. This allows enterprises to design products that meet customer expectations and solve problems, increasing the likelihood of market acceptance.

3. Product Development & Prototyping:  SUS-AFRIC provides coaching to enterprises throughout their journey in Building a working version or prototype, with engineers designing the actual product.

4. Testing and market Validation: User centric testing or pilot programs to ensure the product functions properly and meets user needs.

5. Product branding and packaging- Based o consumer study, SUS-AFRIC supports enterprises on how to package and brand products.  

6. Market Positioning:  supports companies to identify markets and  evaluate its potential to transition into the African regional market or broader international trade.

7. Global Standards & Certifications: Supports companies to meet technical compliance  for mandatory international certifications  safety and global standards 

8. Logistics & Documentation Capacity: Supports companies to handle the "paperwork of export." This includes  generating Certificates of Origin, and complex shipping documents. It also assesses the "Traceability System" the ability to track a product from the manufacturer to the final consumer

9. Supply Chain Scalability:  Supports company’s suppliers to identify distributers and retailers meet the strict quality and volume requirements of an export contract