Cablegate: Mozambique: 2005 Bfif End-of-Fiscal Year Report

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 001010

SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/S - HTREGER AND EB/CBA - DWINSTEAD
FCS FOR RDONOVAN AND JVANRENSBURG
USDOC FOR AHILLIGAS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAID EINV ETRD MZ BFIF
SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: 2005 BFIF END-OF-FISCAL YEAR REPORT

REF: A. STATE 108127
B. MAPUTO 537
C. STATE 37169
D. STATE 24848

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SUMMARY
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1. This year's BFIF program funds were used to support an
Entrepreneurship Forum held on March 22-23, 2005 in the
capital city of Maputo (ref B). More than 100 Mozambican
university students, private sector representatives, and
government officials attended the event, which aimed to
encourage potential and current entrepreneurs to capitalize
on business opportunities in Mozambique and export markets
abroad, including the U.S. In keeping with the MPP goal of
promoting economic growth and development, focus was given to
the creation of sound business plans, profiling of target
customers, quest for technical and financial assistance,
transport to foreign markets, how to chose competitive
products, and finding U.S. business partners.

2. The Forum, which was opened by the Ambassador and Minister
of Industry and Commerce Antonio Fernando, featured
presentations by Mozambican and other African entrepreneurs
who shared their experiences with building successful
business ventures in various sectors, including agriculture,
horticultural/floricultural, food processing and aquaculture
shrimp. The Forum also included speakers from the Corporate
Council on Africa, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the
Southern Africa Trade Hub, all of whom highlighted
opportunities for U.S. financial and technical support,
market opportunities, business linkages, and networking
events.

3. The Forum received significant press coverage and has
since been mentioned positively by several GRM officials and
business leaders in meetings with COM and Emboffs. Post will
pursue several follow-up actions based on input received from
participants (ref B). The large Mozambican delegation of
private sector and GRM representatives at the Corporate
Council on Africa's U.S.-African Business Summit in Baltimore
June 21-24 can certainly be attributed in part to the
successes of the Entrepreneurship Forum and the Corporate
Council on Africa's active involvement in it.

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EXPENDITURES
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4. Post was allocated a total of USD 15,385 in FY05 BFIF
funds for the following two projects:
A) Entrepreneurship Forum
Total Funding: USD 14,000
Embassy expenditures on this project total USD 13,673.81 as
follows:
Total Per Diem USD 2,876.00
Total Airfare USD 6,239.24
Total Space Rental USD 1,350.00
Total Contract Services USD 3,208.57
Balance Remaining USD 326.19
B) Regional Commercial Training in Gaborone
Total Funding: USD 1,385
Post did not use the USD 1,385 in funding allocated for this
project, as the Econ/Commercial Officer was unable to travel
due to logistical constraints.

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COMMENT
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5. This year's BFIF program was one of the most successful at
post to date. The Entrepreneurship Forum was the first of
its kind to be held in Mozambique. Bringing together both
current and future Mozambican business leaders, post was able
to provide
valuable commercial and economic information to those seeking
to build businesses and expand exports abroad. Mozambique
lacks a healthy and well-developed small-to-medium-sized
(SME) business community. With continued technical
assistance and increased efforts by post to engage the GRM on
policy reform, business opportunities in this vital area can
be expanded.

6. Post appreciates this opportunity and looks forward to the
possibility of working with the BFIF program again in 2006.
La Lime

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