US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO1010

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