Nairobi, Friday, July 19, 2019: The first COMESA Source 21 International Trade Fair that took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 17 – 21 July presented a strategic opportunity for COMESA, its institutions and projects to engage with stakeholders and demonstrate their benefits to the region.

Three COMESA institutions: COMESA Competition Commission, the COMESA Court of Justice and the COMESA Business Council were part of the hundreds of exhibitors at the fair, the first of its kind.

At the expo, COMESA Secretariat established an information centre to engage with stakeholders directly and receive feedback, mainly from business people and investors on experiences and challenges that they face.

The 50 Million African Women Speak Project (50MAWS), a new project under the COMESA Gender Division was the trade fair to. It took advantage of the event to introduce itself to the Kenyan public and international exhibitors.

The 50MAWS is a three-year project funded by the African Development Bank, jointly implemented by three regional economic communities (RECs) COMESA, East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community for Western African States (ECOWAS) in 38-member countries of the three regional bodies.

The objective of the project is to empower women entrepreneurs by providing access to financial and non-financial information relevant to develop and grow business.

The SOURCE21 expo was a joint initiative of the COMESA Business Council, the Government of Kenya, the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and the private sector.