Mrs. Chinwe Ezenwa is the Chief Executive Officer of Le Look Bags. Her company, Le Look, became the first company to receive a Nigeria-AfCFTA Certificate of Origin, enabling the organization to trade under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) protocol. The successful female entrepreneur has speedily carried out the first AfCFTA shipment by exporting bags to Kenya.
Ezenwa is also a respected amazon in the Nigerian maritime industry where she served as a former Acting Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
In this interview with News Diet magazine, she speaks on the benefits and possible challenges with regional trade under AfCFTA, underlines the significance of rules of origin and other protocols that can make the regional trade treaty a huge success.
Enjoy it:
What does the Nigeria-AfCFTA Certificate of Origin mean for your business?
Well, I see that certificate as one that connotes prosperity. Honestly, I have been praying and hoping for a day that African nations can trade among themselves without the barriers. Having been in this bag-making business for about 39 years and also training people in the practice, I am looking forward to using the AfCFTA platform to prosper the students that I am training. It is an opportunity for these students to start looking towards exports and not entirely depend on the local market for their products.
I was overwhelmed by the honour, but I know that to be a trailblazer also comes with responsibilities. I see the AfCFTA window as leverage to build my business, support my trainees and I am committed to giving them opportunities to partake in this export trade within the African region.
As someone who has been carrying out international trade with US and Europe, what advice do you have to enable AfCFTA attain the same degree of seamless trade?
There is really no basis to compare the regional market and trading with Europe and America. Outside Africa, our products are competing with producers in China and other known industries in America and Europe. The competition is very keen at that level. In Africa, however, there isn’t so much competition. The only challenge we have is the logistics constraint but this challenge is surmountable.
In Europe and America, we have challenges with regards underpricing our products. Sometimes, in a bid to underprice African products, they start finding faults about the products. I have discovered that shipping to Africa and doing business within the continent is better because I have tested both sides.
To penetrate the European or American market is very tough. However, I didn’t encounter much problems getting my business into Rwanda, Kenya or Ghana and the market is huge. These are nations who don’t really have the bag manufacturing industry and Nigeria needs to take advantage of the AfCFTA because of its population. The core issue is to develop the various industries in Nigeria so that people can be more productive. Why should Nigerians go to bed at 9pm or 10pm and not utilize the nighttime to work? I like the African market and with 1.4 billion people, it’s really huge.
From your experience with Common External Tariff (CET) and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS), what should AfCFTA do differently to be successful?
AfCFTA is going to checkmate dumping of cargoes by the Chinese because the certificate of origin that my company got indicates that the product originates from Nigeria. A product needs to have a minimum of 80 percent of its components from a particular country in order to obtain the Certificate of Origin from that nation. My certificate indicates that my product originates from Nigeria.
So, for a Chinese to penetrate the AfCFTA market, the organization has to come to an African nation to set up its industry and also utilize a minimum of 80 percent of the nation’s raw materials to participate in the market.
The rules of origin under AfCFTA is what distinguishes it from other previous trade treaties within the continent or in the West African sub-region.
The truth is that Nigerian companies and others from Africa can’t compete favourably with the European and Chinese industries on the global scene. With the right application of AfCFTA protocols, these foreign conglomerates have no chance to hijack businesses in the African continent. So, with AfCFTA the competition is Africa versus Africa.
My company didn’t just get the certificate to partake in AfCFTA trade, there was proper investigation. Some officials came to my company to inspect the products and processes.
We showed proof that the adire for the bags are made in Nigeria. The raffia, aso-oke, and akwete are all sourced from Nigeria. Only zips are coming from abroad. That’s what qualified us to get the certificate of origin which is a prerequisite for trading under the AfCFTA. The Certificate of Origin is also what prevents the regional trade from becoming an all-comers market.
Some countries have started the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) under AfCFTA, what are your expectations from the National Action Committee which is Nigeria’s coordinating office?
They should continue to play the advocacy role to ensure that all the protocols are implemented and respected. The committee shouldn’t relent because there are serious challenges and it is not uhuru yet.
I recall numerous challenges I had shipping to Ghana some months back even with my ETLS certificate. They held my goods over issues that borders on competition. If that trade was under AfCFTA it wouldn’t have suffered that challenge because there are consequences and sanctions for delaying the process. AfCFTA is also unique because it is free. This means free duty.
Additionally, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is trying to give some indigenous companies Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) status. Lelook has been nominated for AEO; as soon as we get that, it means that both imports and exports will be seamless as it will pass through the green line without delays. Nonetheless, AEO status must be earned. It requires a lot of integrity and auditing as Customs must be sure that the AEO status wouldn’t be abused.
