The business opportunities of East Africa presented at IPACK-IMA

20.05.2015

A recent study by the International Monetary Fund[1]  shows the unbelievable pace of economic growth in the East African Community (EAC) countries over the last decade. In the 2004-2013 period, the growth rate in the EAC was 6.2%, one of the highest ever recorded in the world since 1960. This performance is even more significant if we consider that the period encompasses the 2007 global and financial economic crisis.
 
So, Eastern Africa is ripe for the development of interesting business activities. Indeed, the business opportunities in the East Africa Community will be discussed in a meeting with the press today (2.30 pm Scorpio Room, Congress Center), with the attendance of the EAC Deputy Secretary General Hon. Jesca Eriyo, the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development in Kenya, William A. Songa, the UNIDO Managing Director, Programme Development and Technical Cooperation Division, Philippe R. Scholtès and the African Packaging Organisation (APO) President, Joseph Nyongesa. The conference started with the welcome and introduction by Guido Corbella, Centrexpo Ipack-Ima Group CEO, and the meeting was moderated by Mpoko Bokanga, from the Representative Office of East Afripack, the processing, packaging and converting exhibition, with its second edition being held in Nairobi (Kenya) from 12 to 14 October 2016.
 
East Afripack, organised by Ipack-Ima Spa, in joint venture with PMMI and in partnership with UNIDO, EAC and the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development of Kenya, was held for the first time in Kenya in 2014 and registered participation by more than 60 Italian companies.
 
The EAC is fertile land and ripe for business development. And indeed, the FMI document suggests that manufacturing in EAC is growing and exports as a share of GDP are rising (from 12 percent in 1990 to 19 percent in 2010) and are becoming more geographically diversified. The African Development Bank has included agro-industrial development within its operational priorities and has started incorporating a more market- and value chain-based approach in the planning of new operations, with agro-processing, postharvest loss reduction and market development as prominent features of its strategy. These trends translate into greater demand for processing and packaging equipment and technologies. By bringing processing, packaging and converting technologies to Nairobi, Kenya, East AfriPack 2016 is therefore the right response to the needs of the East African Community for the coming years. 

[1] Nikoloz Gigineishvili, Paolo Mauro, Ke Wang, 2014. How Solid Is Economic Growth in the East African Community? IMF Working Paper WP/14/150 © International Monetary Fund, 2014 

East Afripack is powered by: Ipack-Ima Spa
In Joint venture with: PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies
In partnership with: UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), EAC (East African Community) and the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development of Kenya