Trade at Hand - SMS Market Alerts

Trade at Hand is an International Trade Centre (ITC) project which Mozambican chapter is funded by the Canadian Government. The objective of Trade at Hand is to make innovative use of mobile phones by business exporters from developing economies. It has recently been launched in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project started to serve agricultural product exporters from Burkina Faso and Mali by the end of 2006. Trade at Hand's first module, "Market Prices", consists in sending, via SMS, product prices on international markets, in real time. "Market Alerts", the second Module, aims to transmit business opportunities, contacts and market news and relies on the unique network of local Trade Support Institutions ITC has been building for more than 40 years.

One of the main objectives of Trade at Hand is to become a self-sustainable service that integrates perfectly to local realities, in countries where the service is launched. Subsequently, the management of Trade at Hand is given to local organizations. ITC currently works at making this possible.

The Trade at Hand focal point in Mozambique and active "Market Alerts" user is IPEX.