A team of Economic and Finance experts from the United Republic of Tanzania currently visiting the country have made a call on African leaders to consider emulating the popular Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) fair initiative by the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) dubbed “GEXIM Tuesday Market”.

The four-member team comprising of representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Tanzania’s Central Bank, Bank of Tanzania, are in the country on a study tour of the Ministry of Finance and selected strategic government agencies to understudy their operations in the areas of Consumer Protection in the financial sector, SMEs and Microfinance.
As part of their schedule, the team participated in a special edition of the GEXIM Tuesday Market dubbed “Tuesday Market Mid-Year Mart” which took place on Tuesday June 25, 2024 at the forecourt of the Bank’s head office, Africa Trade House in Accra. The team interacted with GEXIM’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer responsible for Banking, Rosemary Beryl Archer and some vendors at the fair.

Dionisia Mjema, Assistant Commissioner, Financial Sector Development Department of the Ministry of Finance, Tanzania and the leader of the team, reiterated that the continent needs to craft its own solutions to solve its problems and it starts with the promotion of a mindset of self-reliance.

Lauding GEXIM for introducing such a revolutionary initiative with the potential of changing the fortunes of the country and its citizens, she stated that “around the world, SMEs contribute to the industries for providing the required elasticity and have been identified as to play very important roles in creating private initiatives. Initiatives like the GEXIM Tuesday Market should be considered for replication across the continent to help in the continent’s industrialization agenda. And in countries where necessary, adapted in line with the market requirements and specifications”.

On her part, Rosemary Beryl Archer thanked the Tanzanian team for participating in the “Tuesday Market Mid-Year Mart '' and offering insightful ideas on replicating it across the continent. She highlighted GEXIM’s commitment to fulfilling its mandate to support the Government of Ghana in repositioning the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one.

“GEXIM is a Development Bank championing the Government of Ghana’s quest to transform the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one, and as per our commitment to achieving this, the Bank will continue to explore avenues to create awareness of Ghanaian products and create an external market for these products around the world. We are happy to work with global partners to harness the export potential of our Made-In-Ghana products by meeting international standards required for global markets”, she emphasised.

GEXIM Tuesday Market was initiated by the bank in 2019 as a platform for clients and producers of Made-In-Ghana products to showcase their products and serves as a one-stop-shop for the general public to purchase anything locally manufactured from well packaged and quality food items, cosmetic products, garments and textiles, leather products and many more at unbeatable prices.

In July 2022, GEXIM received the African Union Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (AU SME) award for "The Best Market Initiative" in the Africa category for its “GEXIM Tuesday Market” initiative at the first-ever African Union SME Forum held in Cairo, Egypt by the African Union in collaboration with the All Africa Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (AAASME).

At the thirty-first National Marketing Performance Awards of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) in November 2020, GEXIM received the CIMG President’s Special Award for the “GEXIM Tuesday Market” initiative.

In addition, stakeholders comprising players in the private sector, policy-makers and representatives from government agencies in the SME sector in January 2020 named “GEXIM Tuesday Market” as the Best SME Development Initiative.

Other members of the Tanzanian team were two economists from the Ministry of Finance; Ms. Zawadi Ngonde and Ms. Neema Mtei and Ms. Catherine Manase, from the Central Bank of Tanzania.