This month, Phenix Logistics of Uganda will ship 50,000 organic cotton t-shirts to an American buyer, the company's first major sale under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which waives import duties on thousands of African products. Phenix spun the shirt fabric from locally processed cotton yarn, the first time Ugandan cotton has been used to make fabric for an AGOA export. In Cameroon, recently expanded Ken Atlantic is training workers on 150 new sewing machines to ship an order to the U.S this spring for 20,000 hospital uniforms. Both companies are among 30 African companies exhibiting at Sourcing at MAGIC, one of four shows at the MAGIC Marketplace, the premier apparel trade show in the world, in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 13-16. The apparel firms are sponsored by the USAID Global Competitiveness Hubs: the East and Central Africa Global Competitiveness Hub based in Nairobi, Kenya and the West Africa Trade Hub based in Accra, Ghana.

Held twice yearly, Sourcing at MAGIC is THE location for more than 750 members of the apparel supply chain - contract manufacturers, fabric, trim and service providers - to present their products on the global stage, including the $180 billion U.S. clothing market. This year, Africa has a standout pavilion, demonstrating the capacity and unique products of the continent's garment exporters - all of which offer the duty-free AGOA advantage to buyers. Recent legislation, which extended the AGOA preference program until 2015, both broadened the rules of origin to promote vertical integration in the textile-apparel industry and expanded duty-free treatment to a wider range of products such as towels and African home furnishings. African companies are ready to seize this opportunity more fully and expand their share of the vast U.S. market.

The Africa Lounge combines exhibition space for 30 companies from 10 countries with a space for relaxing and interacting in the middle of the show's bustling floor. Located in the Contractor Manufacturing category, just opposite the seminar rooms, the Lounge will feature a cocktail and networking event to spotlight facets of African culture reflected in its apparel and other products. Several African ambassadors to the U.S., along with the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Florie Liser, will attend the show, underlining the apparel market's importance to growing African economies.