Women in Trade learn E-commerce as business goes online
Women in Trade Workshop
Having successfully incubated the Women in Trade, as one of the networks under the Women Economic and Social Advancement (WESA) Project, our Women in Trade project, in partnership with the United Parcel Services (UPS) continued, with workshops took place in four countries Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Malawi during October 2019.
This project aims to introduce and orientate women in business and trade, to E-commerce opportunities with a particular focus on the International Trade Centre (ITC)âs Shetrades Platform, which seeks to connect one million women entrepreneurs to the markets by 2020. Shetrades uses a multipronged approach including advocacy and empowerment. They have seven global actions that serve as their roadmap for womenâs economic empowerment in which governments, the private sector and civil society groups are challenged to make concrete pledges to remedy obstacles hampering women-owned businesses.
In Malawi, the E-commerce workshop took place on 09 October 2019, with 52 participants attending, including the Network of African Business Women (NABW) board members, under the leadership of Barbara Banda, Chairperson of the Non-Governmental Organization’s Gender Coordination Network in Malawi. In her opening remarks NABW Board Chairperson, Susan Mkandawire, said NABW wants to position itself as a conduit in smart trading, based on the understanding that business has now moved from being door to door to using technology.
During the workshop, a UPS representative advised that UPS is not the cheaper way of doing business but that it offers reliable and efficient movement of goods internationally. The women also got to hear about the âFifty Million African Women Speak Projectâ and the opportunity for NABW members to access to the platform and they say this is the first step to making E-Commerce a reality.  Fifty Million Women Speak project is an online platform that will provide financial and non-financial information to women entrepreneurs, for them to interact and grow their businesses.
âWe benefitted a lot from the energy of the young women and the excitement of networking and finding our moments was around us, we also benefitted from the policy framework and government’s pathway for the futureâ, Barbra Banda said.
Stakeholders deliberate to address challenges faced by women business, trade and export
From Left: With New Faces New Voices (NFNV) â Nigeria Member, Board of trustees Mrs Celia Akintomide, GMT CEO Dr Shungu Gwarinda, UPS Special Projects Manager for West Africa Mr Ralph Uzuode , Country Director NFNV Nigeria Aishatu Debola Aminu, Head â Women in Export NEPC Mrs Leticia Onu and NFNV -Nigeria National Secretary â Yetunde Okafor.
In Nigeria the event was even bigger.  It took place on 24 â 25 November 2015 where about 300 women entrepreneurs from across West Africa converged in Lagos on the first-ever Women in Business, Export and Finance (WIBEF) Summit, convened by Graça Machel Trust (GMT)âs Network, New Faces New Voices (NFNV) Nigeria â supported by United Parcel Services (UPS), aimed at skilling West African women entrepreneurs towards improving their access to business, finance and market opportunities.
The summit themed âbuild locally, think globallyâ was aimed at addressing the challenges faced by West African women in business, trade, export, and finance â considering women`s inability to adequately access market and finance opportunities in the sub region, which hinders the growth of their businesses.
The two-day event featured paper presentations, side exhibitions by women-owned businesses, as well as capacity-building sessions for women entrepreneurs on a wide-range of topics namely, financial management for women-owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); understanding competitive advantage in business; as well as developing a roadmap for business survival and growth, amongst others.
It was a platform for women in business, export and finance to brainstorm on how to tackle the challenges faced by women owned small and medium enterprises and to learn on how to facilitate a access to finance, develop quality products, leverage technology to drive their sales and marketing, and to manage their resources efficiently.
Â
The summitâs keynote address âAfrican Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)â was delivered by Mrs Cecilia Akintomide, former African Development Bank (AfDB)âs Secretary General and Vice President and current NFNV Nigeriaâs Board of Trustees, who described the AfCFTA as one of only few continental agreements that specifically incorporated gender equality as a pathway towards achieving sustainable economic growth in Africa. She also said that the AfCFTA must take cognisance of the vital role of women in the economy; otherwise, it would not achieve its lofty objectives.
Â
Our very own Dr Shungu Gwarinda, GMTâs Interim CEO was also a guest speaker at the summit and she stated that collaboration and building partnerships among women entrepreneurs was essential for the growth of women-owned businesses and harnessing the benefits of the AfCFTA for sustainable economic growth on the continent.
While speaking on âCollaboration as a strategy for global impact,â she identified well-defined collaboration as key for accelerated business growth.
âSimply put, collaboration involves how businesses and organizations can leverage each other`s resources, networks, and even customers because it is very resource- intensive. So, we are supporting [African] women to formalize their businesses. But as business women they must leverage their strengths and resources â thatâs why we have this Pan-African network: NFNV is a collaborative platform for women in business and finance, so that women can engage, share information and business opportunities, as well as learn and build partnerships with one another,â Dr. Gwarinda said on African Newspage website.
Women at the Market place during the Summit
Learn more about the Graça Machel Trust’s Women’s Economic and Social Advancement Programme
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting childrenâs rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescentsâ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trustâs goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a motherâs health and social economic conditions, the early years of a childâs life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.