The first East African Manufacturing Business Summit will be held 1st and 2nd September 2015 at the Speke Resort in Kampala, Uganda. Themed Unleashing the Manufacturing Potential of East Africa, the Summit seeks to address existing gaps in the policy and business environment by bringing together key manufacturers, supply industries, wholesalers and retailers as well as policy makers from the East African region and beyond.
This is in response to the realisation that most manufacturing industries are highly technical, cost-sensitive and economies of scale bearing investments that are strongly dependent on an effective business environment and efficient supply and downstream industries. While in consequence value chains and sales markets stretch across boundaries, most policies and business networks tend to be still localized. The Summit shall cover both industry specific topics as well as cross-cutting thematic areas, with parallel sessions to provide participants with an opportunity to freely choose sessions that are of most interest to their current operations and future plans.
In addition, the Summit follows an innovative formula spearheaded by EAC and EABC that merges policy advocacy and dialogue meetings between the private and public sector that may give way to long term positive effects for the sector with technical and Business-to-Business (B2B) networking components that are designed to have a direct and immediate positive effect on the bottom line of the participating business leaders – for example in B2B meetings with potential raw material, technology and service suppliers, financiers and trade outlets from all over the region.
Participants can expect a wide range of high quality technical presentations reflecting developments in the manufacturing value chain in East Africa and around the world. The Summit shall provide a forum for discussing the legal and policy framework and the overall business environment prevailing in the region.
The Summit being organized by the EAC Secretariat and the East African Business Council (EABC) is expected to attract participation from the EAC region and around the world.