State urged to give informal traders incentives to scale up their businesses

Informal traders need incentives to formalise their businesses, a forum was told last week.

A group of traders said  informal businesses are a major source of income for millions of Kenyans and should therefore be given the attention they deserve.

The traders made the remarks during a Ecobank commodity trade finance conference in Nairobi.

Ecobank’s head of soft commodities research, Edward George said the current environment curtails operations of informal traders.

“The informal sector provides a livelihood for millions of people. In order to encourage these traders to formalise their businesses, they need to be provided with genuine incentives. This way, trade can be regulated, quality-controlled and taxed,” said Mr George

The Ecobank’s conference, which brought together regional trade finance specialists was a curtain raiser for East Africa Trade  and Commodity Finance Conference 2015 which also took place last week.

The Ecobank manager was among the key speakers at the two-day conference at Windsor Golf Hotel & Country Club.

More than 200 business leaders drawn from international markets deliberated on key issues such as the challenges and the latest developments in regional trade.

Ecobank Kenya managing director Ehuoman Kassi said East Africa’s economy is rapidly growing due to the expansion of intra-regional trade.

“We are at the pinnacle of great trade convergence on the continent. Kenya and the East Africa region at large is the gateway to the interior of Africa,” Mr Kassi said.

 “About 50 per cent of all EAC exports end up in other African markets, with intra-EAC trade making 20 per cent of all exports,” he added. 

Africa is rated lowest among other continents in the world in its formal regional trade activities.