The SheTrades project is developed with the strategic objective of mainstreaming gender and economically empowering women in Egypt, in line with the Government goals and the new Egyptian constitution which calls for the full and unconditional equality between men and women in all rights and responsibilities (article 11).

The proposed initiative focuses on supporting businesswomen in the handicraft sector in Egypt to sustain and grow their business and to participate actively in the development and welfare of their families, and the society in general. It also focuses on building a more conducive environment for young and educated women to strengthen their competencies to efficiently integrate selected value chains and to play a more active economic, social and political role.

The ultimate objective is to achieve women economic empowerment to support inclusive and sustainable development and contribute to the country’s economic growth.More competitive enterprises will contribute to achieving targets linked to the 2030 Agenda, particularly related to SDG 8 “promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment”, SDG 9 “industry, innovation & infrastructure” and SDG 5 “gender equality”.

Funded by ITFC and the IsDB, the project will leverage the expertise and networks of ITC SheTrades in the areas of export capacity building, exporter-readiness and access to markets to promote economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs.

ITC’s SheTrades initiative is a global initiative to connect three million women entrepreneurs to market by 2021. SheTrades works with governments, corporations and business support organizations to undertake research, shape enabling trade policies and regulations, facilitate financing, and expand access to public tenders and corporate supply chains.

IMPROVED BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Trade and investment support institutions will receive assistance in upgrading their service portfolio in order to better answer the needs of women-owned SMEs and provide the required advisory services and technical guidance to penetrate new markets. This will strengthen the role of the selected TISIs in facilitating women-owned SMEs direct access to markets by increasing their visibility and offering them direct link to buyers.

INCREASED CAPACITIES OF WOMEN-OWNED SMES TO SELL TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL MARKETS

50 women-owned SMEs will be equipped with the required skills in E-commerce, quality management, packaging,  and pricing needed in order to meet buyer requirements. Through the learning by doing process and customised advisory services, it is expected that the volume and value of their sales/exports will increase.

BUSINESS LINKAGES

The project will focus on improving women marketing capacities and developing a market-led promotion strategy to access new market niches and gain market share. This includes the organisation of networking and business linkage events bringing together pre-identified buyers and women-owned SMEs that are directly benefiting from the project’s technical assistance.