The objective of the project is to contribute to poverty reduction by strengthening the production, commercial and exporting capacities of Beninese companies. The project will provide technical assistance to SMEs in the pineapple, shea almond and cashew value chains for production, quality control and commercialization.

 Results

• 35 managers from trade support institutions and from the private sector participated in an ITC-led training covering tools for discovering and managing export markets in June 2015.
• 15 actors in the shea almond value chain participated in a “training of trainers” in November 2015.
• Prepared 5 training modules on trade integration, negotiation, competition, rules of origin and market access.
• Prepared a report on the regulatory environment governing imports and exports, as well as customs laws with the goal of simplifying procedures to facilitate the development of SMEs and allow them to access financing and business support services.