Emmenette Mason. Photo by Phil Bolton

The Lithonia office of AFRICARIBE Micro Enterprise Network Inc. is organizing a six-day trade mission to Tanzania Aug. 31-Sept. 6.

Emmenette Mason, the network’s director for the Southeast, told GlobalAtlanta that the aim of the mission was to explore the potential for U.S. small- and medium-sized companies in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa.

“Our project is in line with the goals of the African Development Bank to make U.S. companies more aware of the business opportunities in Africa,” she said. The development bank held a trade conference in the East African country in October last year.

 “There are vast opportunities for bilateral trade and we plan to establish several public-private partnerships between the United States and Africa,” she said.

Participants will meet Tanzanian business and government leaders and U.S. officials who will provide advice on how to best conduct business there.

Ms. Mason said that Tanzania provided business opportunities of many kinds including the export of agricultural commodities and the development of manufacturing facilities and communications technology.

Based in Philadelphia, the Christian organization has provided both local and international economic development initiatives since 1997. Ms. Mason, who is originally from Sierra Leone, opened the network’s office in Lithonia in 2004 providing local business development services.

Since then it has been involved in several economic development initiatives, including a conference held at the World Trade Center Atlanta in November that featured representatives of the University of Georgia’s International Trade Center, the U.S. Commercial Service and the Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Commerce Department.

The cost of the mission is $6,500 including airfare, accommodations at the Blue Pearl Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, meals and a visit to a game park.