The 2023 Manufacturing Africa’s annual strategic meeting was held in Kigali in November. The meeting which was tagged ‘Manufacturing Africa Away Week’ had in attendance FCDO country advisers and leadership from the UK, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, Nigeria, Tanzania and implementing partners from McKinsey and BDO.
The objective of the meeting was to review the programme’s performance, celebrate the wins and identify areas of strengthening future service delivery. The week-long event was also an opportunity for the team to bond and build lasting friendships.
Some of the innovative forward-looking strategies discussed include the growth accelerator approach that aims to support the scale up of local manufacturing companies with significant growth potential. MA will achieve this by giving the companies access to finance and specialized entrepreneur/ management experience. Other areas of focus discussed were the Green Business Building project that builds on the opportunities identified at the Africa Climate Summit and the Green Manufacturing Partnership Platform that will unlock the growth of green manufacturing in Africa.
During the stay, the team also visited two Rwandan companies that have benefitted from Manufacturing Africa’s advisory support to facilitate their growth and expansion. The two companies working in the textile and animal feed manufacturing sectors produce goods for both local consumption and export which is aligned to the vision of positioning Rwanda as a manufacturing hub for the region.
MA is one of the programmes within the British Investment Partnerships portfolio dedicated to supporting the focus countries’ governments in driving sustainable growth to their manufacturing sectors as well as positioning them to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and creating inclusive jobs in key manufacturing sub-sectors.
