Membership Organizations (BMOs) in the East African region are adopting Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software technologies, in a bid to improve service provision to businesses as the economies strives to spring back to normal.
This emerged after a two-day recent training meeting by the East African Business Council (EABC) in partnership with GIZ- Business Scouts for Development and the Federation of German Industries (BDI) on using a CRM software to improve the capacity of BMOs in processing data and communicating effectively with members of the business community.
Speaking during the opening session of the training, EABC CEO Dr. Peter Mathuki urged East African companies to adopt digital business models to improve business resilience and continuity amid the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has brought forth opportunities in e-commerce, which have significantly scaled down the cost of doing business by automating manual office operations and reducing human interaction hence increasing productivity and efficiency,” he said.
Dr. Mathuki also noted that the pandemic demands BMOs to be more proactive in reverting to feedback and analyzing data from members to inform policy advocacy initiatives such as the elimination of COVID-19 related Non-Tariff Barriers, among others.
In his remarks, Mr. Hamad Hamad, Executive Director of Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) said, “It is critical for businesses to adopt digital tools to improve efficiency and maximize on returns. EAC Partner States Governments also need to adopt e-government solutions to give value to citizens.”
This happens as the African Development Bank projects that the region is set to recover to 3.7 percent in the baseline scenario and 2.8 percent in the worst-case scenario, under the assumption that COVID-19 would be contained in the short-to-medium term according to AfDB East Africa Economic Outlook, 2020.
COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 provided a learning curve, on the need to have sustainable EAC regional value chains integration for the development of finished products with a view of reducing industrial and trade risks arising out of external shocks.
EABC Chairman Mr. Nick Nesbitt, in an earlier statement, noted that the region is projected to recover steadily but it was dependent on how the pandemic is handled.
Speaking during a media engagement on the State of EAC Economies amid the pandemic in Nairobi, Mr. Nesbitt emphasized the need for the EAC secretariat to fast-track a regional harmonized approach to promptly facilitate interventions at EAC border points to unclog trade blockages and facilitate faster clearance of goods.
EABC has been emphasizing the need for EAC Partner States to harmonize COVID-19 related charges and stop testing at border posts to avoid delays in truck and cargo clearance.
This year, East Africa’s inflation is projected to stand at 15.4 percent in the baseline scenario and 16.0% in the worst-case scenario. This, with Kenya’s inflation, projected to stand at 4.9 percent in the baseline scenario and 4.6% in the worst-case scenario in 2021 (AfDB).
Dr. Mathuki noted that while it was critical for Kenya to sign an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the UK, to avoid losing out on trade, the region’s enjoinment to the deal will enable the bloc to export larger volumes of goods and enjoy economies of scale by marketing as one investment destination.
“It is more beneficial if the EAC region is marketed as a single investment destination,” he said.
Dr. Mathuki urged EAC Partner States to take advantage of the new USA Government and approach it with a bid to revive the negotiations and implementation of the EAC-US Trade and Investment Partnership which were stalled since 2016.
“Given that both US and EAC have already agreed on some areas under EAC-
US Trade and Investment Partnership, the approach will aim at enhancement of the implementation of the agreed areas and move forward on areas that these two parties have not agreed,” Dr. Mathuki added.
EABC has received a lot of support from TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) for the continued partnership and support towards advancing Public-Private Sector Dialogue and safeguarding intra-EAC trade & investments amidst COVID-19.