SheTrades Latin America: Supporting women businesses‘ transition towards the post-COVID digital age

SheTrades Latin America is an initiative of ITC SheTrades and implemented by ITC ecomConnect, with the objective of supporting and training 1,000 women-led businesses to enable them to sell their products and services online. 
Implemented from June 2022 to December 2023. 
About the project
To advance Sustainable Development Goal 5, ITC partners with specialized e-commerce institutions in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, and Uruguay. The project’s primary objective is guiding and assessing a total of 1,000 beneficiary companies on their e-commerce journey through a virtual learning platform developed by these collaborators, who also work on creating essential tools and organizing events in Spanish.
Milestones
Since its inception, the project has delivered:
  • 729 women-led businesses enrolled in the virtual learning courses from Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Uruguay
  • 250 women-led businesses trained by local institutions on how to use ITC’s digital tools
  • Two webinars on leveraging the power of e-commerce to technical institutions
  • One networking session for entrepreneurs, partners and business support organizations
  • 25 new Spanish digital tools and methodologies developed to prepare Latin American women-led-businesses to operate in the new digital world

Have a question about the SheTrades LatAm project?

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Resources

Partners

ITC SheTrades and Unilever Project: Enhancing economic opportunities for women in supply chains

The ITC SheTrades and Unilever project aims to enhance procurement from women-led and -owned businesses in Indonesia, with the goal of enhancing women’s economic opportunities and gender equality in the country. It unites ITC’s expertise in supporting the growth of women-owned micro, small and medium sized enterprises with Unilever’s experience in fostering inclusivity and sustainability within value chains.
Implemented between November 2022 and December 2023.
About the project
The ITC SheTrades-Unilever project is dedicated to increasing the presence of women-led/-owned businesses within Unilever’s supply chain. This goal is realized through the enhancement of the technical capabilities of Indonesian women entrepreneurs, ensuring that they are well-prepared to meet the procurement criteria of large corporations.
To date, the project has delivered the following:
  • Two technical trainings encompassing a wide range of subjects, including industry standards and certifications, effective pitching strategies, sustainable business practices and an overview of Unilever’s procurement criteria.
  • Training of Trainers (ToT) program involving 18 institutions and associations across five provinces. These trainings were designed to embed knowledge and expertise necessary to train their own members and networks on sustainability in supply chains and strategies for accessing finance for businesses. 
  • Facilitated connections between 125 women-owned and led businesses and Unilever procurement officers to explore collaboration within the Unilever supply chain.
Implementing Partners

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Funders

ITC SheTrades: Empowering Women in the AfCFTA —Phase II

The ‘SheTrades: Empowering Women in the AfCFTA — Phase II’ project contributes to ITC’s One Trade Africa strategy on African regional integration. It aims to empower women entrepreneurs to benefit from trade opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area and provides women’s business associations with capacity building, networking platforms and support for effective policy advocacy on AfCFTA Phase II issues.
Implemented between October 2021 and March 2024 across the continent.
About the project
The ‘SheTrades: Empowering Women in the African Continental Free Trade Area—Phase II’ project contributes to the women in trade component of ITC One Trade Africa strategy. The project aims to empower women entrepreneurs to benefit from trade opportunities created by the AfCFTA and contribute to a more inclusive AfCFTA by:
  • Providing women’s business associations with capacity building, networking platforms and support for effective policy advocacy on AfCFTA Phase II issues
  • Leveraging the private sector to foster women’s economic empowerment through the AfCFTA;
  • Working with ECOWAS to strengthen the ecosystem for women;
  • Promoting public private sector dialogues on women and trade across selected countries;
  • Delivering technical support to policymakers.
Funded by GIZ, the project is implemented in close cooperation with the AfCFTA Secretariat, the African Union Commission and regional economic communities (RECs) in the continent.
Milestones
  • Developed a strategy and roadmap for an AfCFTA Continental Network for WBAs;
  • Finalized Articles of association and by-laws for the Continental Network;
  • Convened consultations across the continent with over 120 WBAs in Africa;
  • Organized a series of three-day AfCFTA export readiness bootcamps in Benin, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Niger, Rwanda and Togo;
  • Organized a three-part webinar series to 15 ECOWAS member states on AfCFTA topics. Topics include rules of origin, tariff concessions, non-tariff barriers monitoring, the Pan-African Payment System, the African Trade Observatory and market intelligence tools. A total of 526 women entrepreneurs were trained.
  • Hosted a regional meeting focused on women and youth;
  • Organized three policy dialogues on the ITC SheTrades Outlook policy tool and the AfCFTA Protocol on Women and Youth in Rwanda, Malawi and Niger.
Learning Resources – Online Training Programme in Intra-African Trade in Processed Foods
Webinar 1 – How to successfully prepare, exhibit and organize your follow-up for trade fair participation
Webinaire 1 – Comment préparer, exposer et organiser avec succès le suivi de votre participation à une foire commerciale
  • Checklists compilées: cliquez ici
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • Checklist pour calculer le coût de sa participation à une foire: cliquez ici
  • Regardez l’enregistrement du webinaire ici
Webinar 2 – Go global: Craft your export marketing strategy
Webinaire 2 – S’ouvrir au monde : Élaborez votre stratégie de marketing à l’exportation
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • Regardez l’enregistrement du webinaire ici
Webinar 3 – Enhance your export visibility through social media
Webinaire 3 – Renforcez votre visibilité à l’exportation avec les réseaux sociaux
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • Regardez l’enregistrement du webinaire ici
Webinar 4 – Key certifications for women-led agro-food processors
Webinaire 4 – Certifications clés pour les transformateurs agroalimentaires
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • Regardez l’enregistrement du webinaire ici
Webinar 5 – Exporting 101: Navigating Prices, Processes and Documentation
Webinaire 5 – L’exportation 101 : Navigation des prix, des processus et de la documentation
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • Regardez l’enregistrement du webinaire ici
Webinar 6 – Sealing the Deal: How to effectively negotiate and engage with buyers
Webinaire 6 – Conclure la Vente : Comment négocier et engager les acheteurs
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • Regardez l’enregistrement du webinaire ici
Webinar 7 – Get Market-Intelligent with the African Trade Observatory
Webinaire 7– Obtenez des tendances du marché grâce à l’Observatoire Africain du Commerce
  • Presentation diapositives: cliquez ici
  • En raison de difficultés techniques, l’enregistrement de la séance en français n’est pas disponible. Nous vous présentons nos excuses et vous remercions de votre compréhension. Regardez en anglais ici.
Publications
  • Reforming Public Policy – Step by Step: An Introduction to Dialogue & Advocacy for Women’s Business Associations – Available in English and French
  • Products & Markets with Export Growth Potential in COMESA – Available in English
  • Survey of African Women’s Business Associations – Available in English
  • AfCFTA Policy Dialogue with Women’s Business Associations: Key Outcomes and Recommendations – Available in English
  • Dialogue sur les politiques de la ZLECAf avec les associations professionnelles de femmes: résultats et recommandations – Available in French
SheTrades AfCFTA policy briefs

Learn more about the SheTrades-AfCFTA project!

Click here to read our brochure

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SheTrades and UPS Women Exporters Programme

Funded by The UPS Foundation, the SheTrades and UPS Women Exporters Programme (WEP) aims to facilitate the participation of women-led businesses in trade. Through targeted technical assistance and collaboration with key public and private stakeholders, the programme boosts the competitiveness of women-led businesses in Mexico, Vietnam, Indonesia and Nigeria, while expanding their access to markets and investments. The programme also extends its impact globally, by creating and disseminating online learning tools and resources.
Implemented between April 2020 and March 2024.
About the project
In 2019, the SheTrades and UPS Women Exporters Programme was launched to advance the participation of women-led businesses in trade. The programme has a dual approach:  
Cross-cutting global component
  • Creation and delivery of online training resources and tools – available as UN public goods on the SheTrades Academy  
Country component (Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Vietnam):
  • Building the technical skills and competitiveness of women entrepreneurs to trade, with a focus on digitalization, access to finance and market readiness.
  • Strengthening the resilience and business continuity planning of women entrepreneurs 
  • Fostering new business and investment opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
Implementing partners

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Funders

ITC SheTrades and Visa: Asia Pacific

Igniting Women’s Economic Empowerment in Asia Pacific
ITC SheTrades and Visa have partnered since July 2023 to advance women’s entrepreneurial development and foster inclusive growth across the Asia Pacific region. 
About the project
Visa is committed to being a trusted partner for micro and small businesses as they navigate today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. This collaboration with ITC SheTrades supports women-led businesses by providing access to digital tools, financial resources and educational content to achieve their business aspirations. 
Upcoming activities
  • Mentorship Programme: Between October and November 2024, selected women entrepreneurs will be matched with Visa experts to receive mentorship on digital banking, payments and commerce.  
Past activities
  • Partner Networking Workshop in Manila, Philippines (4 – 6 December 2023): 100 Filipina entrepreneurs participated in a workshop to tackle the challenges of exporting and investment competitiveness. This flagship event was launched on the sidelines of National Exporters Week by the Department of Trade and Industry (SheTrades Philippines Hub).   
  • ‘Harnessing Digital Solutions for Financial Success’ Webinar Series (13 – 27 June 2024): Hosted a three-part webinar series, where 278 participants from 56 markets gained practical insights on financial planning, digitalization, access to capital, and learned how to use Visa’s online resources to upscale their businesses. 
The ITC-Visa Self-Assessment Tool
Access the ITC-Visa Self-Assessment Tool to evaluate your business competitiveness! This tool will help you gain a deeper understanding of your business’s current standing, pinpoint areas for improvement, and offer personalized insights to guide your business development strategy.
How to access the ITC-Visa Self Assessment Tool:
  • Access the platform here.
  • Log in to your account—or create one if you don’t have one.
  • Start the assessment and complete it at your own pace.
For additional guidance, please refer to the instructions outlined in this guide or check out this webinar, which features insights from ITC experts.
Visa Solutions for Small Businesses
Visa offers a suite of innovative solutions designed to empower small and micro businesses by enhancing their payment processes, improving financial management, and providing robust security measures. Here are some key Visa solutions: 
  • Click-to-Pay provides a seamless online checkout experience that allows customers to pay with a single click, simplifying the payment process and enhancing customer satisfaction. 
  • Tap-to-Phone enables businesses to accept contactless payments directly on their NFC-enabled smartphones without additional hardware, making it cost-effective and convenient for on-the-go transactions. 
  • Visa Direct offers a real-time cross-border and domestic payment solution that allows businesses to send funds directly to eligible debit and prepaid cards, accelerating payments and enhancing cash flow management. 
  • Small Business Cards provide tailored credit and debit card solutions designed specifically for small businesses, offering features like expense management tools, rewards, and cashback to help manage business expenses and provide access to credit. 
Additional Resources from Visa Partners
Basic Financial Literacy and Business Skills
  • Practical Money Skills:
    A global digital financial literacy education programme that equips micro and small business owners with essential tools for managing personal finances. The programme covers budgeting, savings, investing, credit management, and debt reduction, ensuring financial well-being and stability. 
    Courses available in English, Korean, Bahasa Indonesia 
  • Practical Business Skills:
    A comprehensive digital resource platform designed to enhance business operations for micro and small business owners. It offers tools and insights for effective business financial management, strategic marketing, operational efficiency, and business planning, empowering owners to drive sustainable growth. 
    Courses available in English 
Business Resources and Support
Visa Initiatives and Programmes
  • She’s Next, Empowered by Visa Initiative 
    A programme dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs, it provides resources, funding, networking opportunities and mentorship to help women business owners overcome challenges, grow their businesses, and achieve long-term success. 
  • Visa Accelerator Programme
    A targeted initiative aimed at fostering the growth of innovative startups in the fintech space. It offers mentorship, resources and opportunities to collaborate with Visa’s extensive network, accelerating growth and market reach. 
  • Visa Inclusive Fintech Accelerator 
    A specialized accelerator programme promoting inclusivity in the fintech sector. It supports underrepresented entrepreneurs and startups by providing mentorship, resources, and access to Visa’s ecosystem to scale their operations and drive financial inclusion. 

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ITC SheTrades Outlook

ITC SheTrades Outlook helps governments and other stakeholders assess, monitor and improve the policy ecosystem to support women’s participation in business and international trade. Governments are using data from SheTrades Outlook to make trade and trade-related policies work for women.
Rolled out in 52 developing and developed countries since 2019.
About ITC SheTrades Outlook
SheTrades Outlook provides country assessments based on 55 policy indicators across six pillars: trade policy, legal and regulatory framework, business environment, access to skills, access to finance, and work and society. This innovative tool offers trade and gender data, collected through an institutional survey and supplemented by existing data from international databases.

The tool is primarily aimed at policymakers, trade and investment support institutions, development partners, women’s business associations, civil society organizations, and researchers.

Through SheTrades Outlook, stakeholders can:
  • Assess and compare: SheTrades Outlook does not rank countries’ performance. Rather, through a comparable set of indicators, the tool allows governments to assess the gender-responsiveness of trade and trade-related policies and compare performance across countries.
  • Monitor: ITC aims to update country data every five years to monitor progress on trade and gender. The SheTrades Outlook data collection is low-cost and can be rolled out in a country in around three months.
  • Learn from good practices: SheTrades Outlook highlights the good practices of countries on women’s economic empowerment to inspire similar initiatives elsewhere. This incentivizes policy change through peer-to-peer learning and understanding baseline information.
  • Break down silos: Stakeholder consultations (before and after data collection) enable ministries, agencies and private-sector organizations that often do not work together to share information and jointly agree on policy changes or new activities.
Milestones
As of 2023, SheTrades Outlook provides data on trade and gender across 52 developing and developed countries. More than 1,000 public and private-sector institutions were interviewed to collect data. ITC aims to expand the tool globally to support additional governments with data and evidence for gender-responsive policymaking. The tool has a repository of more than 100 good practices on women’s economic empowerment around the world.
 
ITC has organized SheTrades Outlook validation workshops to present and validate results, discuss recommendations and identify areas for policy reform. ITC developed policy briefs that present key findings from the data and provide policy recommendations.

Based on SheTrades Outlook results, ITC has given technical assistance to policymakers in 14 countries to make policies more inclusive. This includes helping policymakers mainstream gender in trade and SME policies, export strategies, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation strategies, public procurement policies, acts and regulations, and COVID-19 stimulus packages, and developing definitions of women-led and women-owned businesses.
 
Lastly, ITC launched the SheTrades Outlook Network in 2023 to give in-country government officials a platform to share and learn from good practices that promote women’s economic empowerment and gender equality across the world. So far, 28 countries have joined the network and participated in workshops to unpack good practices featured in SheTrades Outlook and to share experiences and lessons learned.
Resources
Policymakers often become interested in mainstreaming gender into their policies based on the learnings from SheTrades Outlook. However, they frequently cite the lack of technical capacity to formulate and implement gender-inclusive policies. That is why ITC provides technical assistance to governments to mainstream gender into trade and trade-related policies, laws and regulations, ensuring that the advisory work is tailored to countries’ contexts and priorities. 
SheTrades Outlook policy briefs
ITC develops policy briefs to report key findings and provide policy recommendations from SheTrades Outlook. Policymakers can use the briefs to inform stakeholder consultations and identify focus areas for programming and policy reform at the national, regional, and international levels. The policy briefs are publicly available on the tool. 
Step-by-step guides for policymakers
ITC developed structured methodologies to help encourage inclusive policy reform in-country. They are detailed in three step-by-step guides that give policymakers and negotiators access to easy-to-use questionnaires, checklists and decision trees to complement SheTrades Outlook data and operationalize policies, programmes and initiatives.
  • Mainstreaming Gender in Free Trade Agreements – Available in English and Spanish,
  • Making Public Procurement Work for Women – Available in English, French and Spanish.
  • From Design to Evaluation: Making Trade Policy Work for Women – Available in English and French.
  • SheTrades Outlook: Key Trends and Insights – Available in English
Explore SheTrades Outlook country profiles and good practices by clicking here!
Have a question? Contact us!

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Value-added Initiative to Boost Employment for Women-led Businesses Programme

Within the five-year framework of the TradeMark Africa-led Value-added Initiative to Boost Employment (VIBE) programme, and in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, ITC SheTrades is implementing activities targeting 150 export-ready women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the horticulture sector to access new market opportunities, while creating jobs for women and youth. 
Implemented between July 2023 and June 2028 in Rwanda.
About the project
The project “Rwanda: Value-added Initiative to Boost Employment (VIBE) for Women-led Businesses” (VIBE-SheTrades Rwanda) is part of the VIBE programme, a five-year programme led by TradeMark Africa (TMA) and in partnership with Mastercard Foundation to increase dignified employment, particularly among excluded groups such as women, youth, refugees, and people living with disabilities in Rwanda. The VIBE programme aims to contribute to the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works (YAW) strategy, launched in Rwanda in 2018, to provide opportunities for young people in Africa to secure dignified and fulfilling work.

ITC SheTrades will specifically implement the intervention targeting 150 export-ready women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the horticulture sector to access new market opportunities, while creating jobs for women and youth.

Have a question about the VIBE programme?

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Partners

SheTrades Hubs

Co-implemented by ITC SheTrades and national and regional institutions, SheTrades Hubs serve as resource centres for women-led businesses, policymakers, business support organizations and private-sector partners to improve the business support ecosystem and foster a community of partners to enable women’s success in trade.
About SheTrades Hubs
Operating in collaboration with national and regional institutions, SheTrades Hubs serve as vital resource centres for women entrepreneurs to access trainings on key topics, market and investment opportunities; institutions to access to a community of partners from a network spanning 20 in-country and two regional hubs across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa region; and to support policy makers with enhancing gender-inclusive policies.

You can register at your local Hub by following the relevant link in bold below:
West Africa
East and Southern Africa
Asia
Caribbean
Latin America
Milestones
SheTrades Hub host institutions have facilitated training, investment and market access opportunities. Our impact includes:
  • Nearly 4,500 women entrepreneurs received skills trainings;
  • Over 400 women entrepreneurs benefitted from new services;
  • $1.2 million in business leads generated by 39 women entrepreneurs from Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya and Trinidad & Tobago at the Fruit Attraction Trade Fair (October 2022);
  • 15 in-country and two regional hubs equipped to offer enhanced services, covering crisis management, digital workshops, marketing and more;
  • Mauritius and South Africa SheTrades Hubs explored opportunities to co-organize a regional-level training for WLBs on market access and export development following peer-to peer sessions in March 2023.

Have a question about SheTrades Hubs?

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  • Resources
    SheTrades Hubs Brochure – Available in English

ITC SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme

The ITC SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme, funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), aims to foster an enabling business ecosystem and improve the competitiveness of women-led businesses to trade by promoting inclusive policy and data and engaging women-led businesses, business support organizations, and private-sector partners in the Commonwealth countries and its key trading partners, including the ASEAN region.
Implemented between 2018 and 2024 in selected Commonwealth countries and its key trading partners.
About the project
Launched in April 2018, the ITC SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme targets all levels of stakeholders within the business ecosystem, including women-led businesses, business support organizations, private-sector partners and policymakers, to foster an enabling business ecosystem for women to trade.
Milestones
Since April 2018, the SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme has:
  • Directly supported over 4,000 women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses in the Commonwealth countries and its key trading countries by providing almost 1,000 training and coaching on international trade in multiple languages;
  • Helped to generate over £32 million of sales for those women-owned businesses in sectors ranging from tourism to agrifood and from textiles to IT;
  • Supported the creation of over 6,600 jobs, of which over 70% went to women, in those businesses and their supply chains;
  • Worked with almost 100 business support organizations, among which 13 organizations are hosting SheTrades Hubs, to create an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs to succeed in international trade;
  • Launched and rolled-out SheTrades Outlook to 52 countries, which has helped to collect data and best practices on trade policy that affect women entrepreneurs and their business, and created the SheTrades Outlook network, which has connected government officials from 26 countries to share best practices and lessons learned on trade and gender agenda;
  • Developed 12 SheTrades Outlook policy briefs and engaged country-based government officials from 33 countries to raise their awareness on good practices through the SheTrades Outlook Network;
  • Supported approximately 20% Commonwealth countries to make their trade and trade-related policies more gender inclusive, including expanding market opportunities for women entrepreneurs through public procurement.

Resources

  • Women-led businesses in Mozambique’s energy sector: Challenges and opportunities Available in English
  • Mainstreaming gender in free trade agreements – Available in English and Spanish.
  • Making public procurement work for women – Available in English, French and Spanish.
  • From design to evaluation: Making trade policy work for women – Available in English and French.
  • Exporting to Great Britain: A handbook for Bangladeshi women-led businesses in the women’s accessories, textiles and apparel and home décor sectors. Available in English.

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ITC SheTrades Accelerator Programme

The ITC SheTrades Accelerator Programme (STAP) aims to promote income generation and job creation for women-led businesses and their communities by strengthening the business support ecosystem and increasing the competitiveness of and creating new market linkages and business opportunities for women-led businesses.
Implemented between October 2021 and March 2024.
About the project
The SheTrades Accelerator Programme (STAP) is funded by GIZ and forming part of the Global Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) which is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) over the period 2021 to 2023.

The programme aims to promote income generation and job creation for women-led businesses (WLBs) and their community by:
  • Strengthening the business support ecosystem to better support the growth of women’s economic empowerment initiatives and activities;
  • Increasing the competitiveness of women-led businesses;
  • Creating new market linkages and business opportunities for women-led businesses in the sector.
STAP supports women-led businesses (WLBs) and BSOs in the Apparel, Accessories, and Home Decor sector from Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, and South Africa.
STAP Partnerships with ITC Projects
  • ITC SheTrades Commonwealth project, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, this programme also supports WLBs and BSOs in the Apparel, Accessories and Home Decor sectors in Pakistan.
  • ITC UKTP project, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, this programme also supports WLBs and BSOs in the Apparel, Accessories, Beauty and Home Decor sectors in Zimbabwe.
  • ITC UKTP project, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, this programme also supports WLBs and BSOs in the Shea Beauty Products Sector in Nigeria

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