ITC Inaugurates ‘She Trade’ Commonwealth

As part of efforts to strengthen capacities of 3,000 women-owned businesses towards boosting their sales to 28 million pounds (about N11,480 trillion) by 2020, the International Trade Centre (ITC) has inaugurated She Trade Commonwealth in Nigeria.
The Senior Advisor, Women and Trade programme, ITC, Nicholas Schlapfer, at the inauguration of the programme on Monday in Lagos, said the project aims to boost trade, productivity and competitiveness for women entrepreneurs through intensive training and mentoring toward ensuring that they play active role in international trade.
He said that the project, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), would be implemented by the ITC from 2018 to March 2020.
Schlaepfer noted that the project would increase economic growth and job creation in commonwealth countries by ensuring increased participation of women-owned businesses in international trade.
According to him, the project would address challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, including access to and control over land, cumbersome business and financial institutional processes.
“She Trade in the commonwealth Nigeria will ensure that women entrepreneurs, in Nigeria receives support tailored to their specific needs allowing them to propel their market representation and secure greater access to global trade”, he said.
According to him, ITC will work to increase the competitiveness of women entrepreneurs in the agriculture, apparel and services sectors in four Commonwealth focus-countries.