The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) is a trade association focusing on strengthening commercial relationships between the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the African continent

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

.

Background

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) is a nonprofit, membership-based organization established in 1993 to promote business and investment between the United States and the nations of Africa. CCA is the premier American organization devoted to U.S.-Africa business relations and includes as members more than 180 companies, which represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector investments in Africa. CCA’s members range from America’s smallest to largest corporations. They represent a diverse pool of industries from more than 20 key sectors, including agribusiness, energy, infrastructure, security, power, healthcare, telecommunications and finance.

The Corporate Council on Africa is a leading source of the most up-to-date information on business across Africa. CCA works closely with governments, multilateral groups and businesses to improve the continent’s trade and investment climate, and to raise Africa’s profile in the U.S. business community. Most importantly, CCA works with member companies to help them increase their investment in and trade with the nations of Africa. CCA accomplishes these goals through a number of sector- and country-specific working groups, initiatives, research areas, forums, conferences and advocacy programs.

The U.S.-Africa Business Center

The U.S.-Africa Business Center (USABC) is a program at The Corporate Council on Africa funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. USABC works to increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and sub-Saharan African economies, with a focus on small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), as well as larger corporations. USABC places special emphasis on promoting American investments in Africa’s strategic agricultural value chains. Target countries for USABC include Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Unlike other initiatives, USABC identifies both reliable African partners for U.S. firms seeking to market products and services in Africa and U.S. buyers for African firms wishing to sell to the United States through the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA).