Jalad Africa wins top exporter award

MASERU – LEATHERWORKS exporter, Jalad Africa, was yesterday recognised as Lesotho’s number one exporter at a function organised by the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC), Lesotho Post Bank and USAID Trade Hub.

The awards, celebrated yesterday in Maseru, were meant to empower local exporters. Jalad Africa, a Basotho owned company, was recognised as the exporter of the year.

Local exporters were awarded under the categories of best emerging exporter, best exporter for market and product diversification and best exporter in market sustainability. The best emerging exporter award was won by Garal Africa while the best exporter for market went to Centimetre.

Under the category of the most innovative and versatile exporter and high impact exporter, Leafglow and Liberation clothing were recognised as the winners. The LNDC set aside M45 000 for all the winners where the overall winner got M10 000 and the rest in their respective categories received M7 000 each.

The Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Dr Francis Sefali, said there are a number of initiatives such as the 2019/2025 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Response Strategy.

He said the 2021/2025 National Export Strategy has been adopted by the government to increase exports and instigate product diversification to tie well with the objectives of this initiative.

“As a small country, we need to aim higher and go beyond our borders to international markets,” Dr Sefali said.

“Our prosperity as a country unquestionably depends on that,” he said.

Dr Sefali said Lesotho’s exports to the United States may have marginally decreased in 2020, and exports to South Africa increased.

“This is a demonstration that the exporters’ contribution registered a noticeable success even in the face of adversity,” he said.

“This exhibits the versatility and competence to respond to various challenges.”

Dr Sefali said we have to be aware, however, of the possibility of continuing to experience a host of uncertainties that we may not even be able to predict how they will affect us in future, citing Covid-19 example.

“We need to stay vigilant and invest in sectors that will make us more competitive in these markets even without the market access preferences that we are fortunately beneficiaries to.”

The LNDC Acting General Manager of Corporate Service, ’Mamoiloa Raphuthing, urged local exporters to conform to buyers’ standards and specifications to improve their global export competitiveness.

She further urged the local exporters to understand target market requirements, list export products in relevant e-commerce platforms and participate in relevant trade promotion events.

“It is crucial for local exporters to create business networks and connections and acquire deal negotiation skills,” Raphuthing said.

Raphuthing said this platform allows the participating exporters to assess themselves for export readiness and in turn adopt tools to improve their business performance.

“This national competition is only a stepping stone into a regional competition,” she said.

The Director of Jalad Africa, Lebeoana Matsimane, said this has not been a happy year for Jalad Africa, however, they feel like this is the happy ending. He said the company has been through a rough patch which was triggered by Covid-19 pandemic however, they have been standing.

“Despite all this, we are elevating our company to the Amazon platform very soon,” Matsimane said.

Speaking at the event, the United States Embassy’s acting Chargé d’Affaires, Keisha Toms-Boutaleb, said the US supported the development of the AGOA Utilisation Strategy for Lesotho, which was launched in January 2020.

This was meant to increase exports from Lesotho to the United States under AGOA by at least five percent per year for the next five years.

“Today, we are seeing some fantastic results from the companies represented here,” Toms-Boutaleb said.

Refiloe Mpobole