Corporte gift success with NAMIC

eShopAfrica.com supplied Kente cloth bookmarks and Bolgatanga baskets as gifts for for the 11th Anniversary Fundraiser of NAMIC (National Association For Multi-Ethnicity In Communications) held in New York in December 2005. The event was attended by a number of celebrities and major cable companies.

The guest and celebrity "swag bags" received praise in MulitChannel News the trade publication for the cable industry. They were coordinated by ItsInTheBagInc.com a company that specialises in interesting and innovative corporate gifts.

Next time you're organising an event why don't you order some of our products? It will say more about you and your company than any biro or plastic wallet could - and our artisans will truly appreciate your custom. Email us for ideas or a quote.

Design Competition 04, Rome, Italy

In partnership with Afram, (UN African Amicale), eShopAfrica.com held the Design Competition Judging and Award ceremony at FAO on Friday May 28th as part of the UN Africa week celebrations. The theme was "Trade and Opportunities" 

Art and design students from international schools in Rome were challenged to design products suitable for western markets that incorporated traditional African arts and crafts. The students were shown a variety of African arts and crafts and told about the lives of the artisans. The response was fantastic with a total of 104 entries. The students came up with some truly original ideas.

A special thank you to the art teachers who worked with us to make this competition possible:

Dennis Cigler, High School Art Teacher
Marymount International School

Francesca Godfrey, Art Teacher
The New School

Greg Morgan, High School Art Teacher
St George's International School

Mauro Brooks, Middle School Art Teacher
Marymount International School


The Judges

Daniela Petroff-Simpson, the Associated Press Fashion writer who covers the Italian fashion scene was the Jury Coordinator. Judges were asked to award points on the following criteria:

Originality
Incorporation of African materials
Useability
Suitability for markets
Overall Impression

Other judges included Sheila Sisulu, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme and Zeinab Gregorio,President of the African Women's Group.

The exhibit and award ceremony was attended by the BBC journalist Jenny Horrocks and was featured in the BBC World Service Radio Programme Artbeat during the week of 3rd June 2004.

Jenny Horrocks (right), editor of the BBC World Service Radio Programme ArtBeat with Father Chinedu Anieke and Cordelia Salter of eShopAfrica.com


The Winning Entries

The standard of the entries was very high and the judges had a tough time making their decision. Congratulations to the winners below and a big THANK YOU to everyone who entered.

Overall winners

1st prize: A Kente Shawl and 100 Euro Amazon Gift Token

"Beaded bag" by Maria Grade 12 Marymount International School

2nd prize: A Mudcloth Shawl and 50 Euro Amazon Gift Token

"Lion Head CD Stand" by Alex Grade 9 Marymount International School

3rd prize: An Ethiopian Shawl and 25 Euro Amazon Gift Token

"Chess Set" by Constanza Grade 6 Marymount International School


Grade Prizes
Each Grade prize received a Kente Strip

Grade 6 1st Place

"Panther Box" by Alif, New School

Grade 6 2nd Place

"African Table Mat" by Lehua, New School

Grade 6 3rd Place

"African Star Clock" by Alessandro, New School


Grade 7 Joint 1st Place

"Tesscam Lamp" by Tess & Camille, Marymount

Grade 7 2nd Place

"The Elly Lampshade" by Emilia, Marymount

Grade 7 3rd Place

"Secret Book" by Gabriel, Marymount

Grade 8 1st Place

"Poncho" by Teresa, Marymount

Grade 8 2nd Place

"School Bag" by Lidia, Marymount

Grade 8 3rd Place

"Cricket Cupboard" by Rizan, Marymount

Grade 9 1st Place

"Hat" by Stefania, Marymount

Grade 9 2nd Place

"Bed-side Table" by Galteera, Marymount

Grade 9 3rd Place

"Taily Key Holders" by Blaine, Marymount

Grade 11 1st Place

"Relax Chair" by Thais, Marymount

Grade 11 2nd Place

"Jewel of the Savannah" by Caroline, St Georges

Grade 11 3rd Place

"African Star Card" by Laura, New School

Grade 12 1st Place

"African Cloth Beautiful Belts" by Vittoria, Marymount

Grade 12 2nd Place

"Voodoo Night Handbag" by Francesca, Marymount

Grade 12 3rd Place

"Easy Assemble Canopy Bed" by Naila, Marymount

Partners: Development Gateway and eShopAfrica.com

Cordelia Salter, founder and webmaster of eShopAfrica.com was invited by the World Bank's Development Gateway to take part in a workshop held in Tanzania. The Tanzania Country Gateway who was hosting the event was focussing on the use of ICTs to promote SME development.

In a live video conference link between Rome, Washington and Dar El Salem, participants in the workshop in Tanzania listened first to a presentation on e-business by James Hanna of the World Bank's Private Sector Development Cluster for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

Following this Cordelia talked about the challenges and successes eShopAfrica has had in setting up an African based ecommerce web site. Practical issues such as credit card processing, fraud, shipping, customs and marketing were discussed. The presentation was followed by a question and answer session.

Media: AMEX: eShopAfrica.com made 'lead' company

AMEX, a USAID project designed to increase non-traditional exports from Africa, has made eShopAfrica.com a 'lead' company. It has chosen us an example of how ecommerce can be used to achieve their objectives and wants other businesses to follow our example. They are giving us valuable and timely support in building up our business fast.

Here are the criteria that AMEX used: 

• Wishes to be in the non-traditional export markets
• Wishes to use the most modern, but appropriate, technology
• Is a privately held market promotion and sales entity
• Is either already commercially linked, or wishes to be linked, with smaller firms of any type or small-scale producers of up-stream components. Is willing to 'pull' these smaller entities into a larger commercial arena
• Is willing to test concepts and develop new market opportunities
• Willing to be involved in the production and marketing of Ghanaian products with a high potential for increased revenues and significant multiplier effects
• Is willing to absorb new and innovative marketing and market intelligence systems. Growth potential in these aspects and also in revenues should be evident
• Has the potential for increased employment
• Has the potential to diversify its marketing of commodities, to include the United States as well as Europe and the West Africa sub-region
• Is sensitive to, and wishes to adopt, environmentally sound practices
•  There is the possibility of value addition to the enterprise's primary products.