Trade in the East African Region
Most of cross‐EAC border trade is executed informally. This trade involves the importation and exportation of legally and accepted produced commodities (goods and services). In some cases, the trade process is not captured by governmental procedures, for example tax remittances, some are incorrectly recorded or others go unrecorded into official national statistics of the trading countries (Ogalo, 2010).
The emergence of the EAC Customs Union in 2005 has seen several measures taken to increase formal trade links among member countries (Mkuna, 2014). Although there have been policies put in place to enhance trade integration among EAC member states, there are still challenges with formal trade links. For example, additional transport costs resulting from non-tariff barriers, and the balance of trade between member states. There is need for, member states to Increase the pace of harmonizing the trading procedures and policies in the EAC region to assist in simplifying activities. (Mkuna, 2014). These make some traders to continue engaging in informal trade since there are advantages inherent in the informality. For example, they can easily evade taxation; engage in substandard goods and services without being noticed among others (Titeca & Kimanuka, 2012).
Most of the goods traded in the East African region include agricultural produce, locally made and imported consumer goods such as shoes, clothes, textile and vehicle and bicycle parts which mostly originate from the country whose import tax is less (Ogalo, 2010). The trade has a positive impact on the inhabitants of the region. Small‐scale traders are able to overcome poverty which is common in the region, and to meet health, education, housing and other basic needs. This trade also enhances employability among those engaging in the trade in one way or another.
However, despite the availability of goods and services, and a sufficient market to consume these products, the East African Community member states continue to rely more on imported goods and services from overseas markets (Shinyekwa & Othieno, 2013). The leading Import and Export market for Kenya is China and the US respectively, Tanzania (India and China), Uganda (China and UAE) Burundi (UAE and Tanzania) Rwanda (China and DRC) and Southern Sudan (China and Uganda). It is this evident that the leading trade partners are foreign countries rather than member states. This can be attributed to, among other things, the lack of knowledge about the availability of these products within the region. Lack of proper marketing makes the consumers not to seek a product since they are not aware it exists.
Although there has been an increase in digital advertisements on a daily basis than any other form of advertisement in the region, most are initiatives of multinational companies. The number of internet users and their daily usage continues to surge as audiences shift away from TV, radio and print media. There is an increasing dependency on technology and a mobile first approach by youth consumers in Africa. This trend is being driven by African millennials with Africa having the highest youth population in the world. African millennials are increasingly using social media sites as tools for communication and as their first source for news and information (Geopoll 2017). However, the East African market has not effectively taken advantage of this.