March 29, 2024

More women-led or owned Philippines-registered micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are encouraged to participate in the SheTrades hub to expand trade and investment opportunities, and even increase access to finance.

“(With) SheTrades, you can benefit from being part of a wider network of 13 hubs across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and it will improve the business support ecosystem to enable the women to participate and benefit from trade,” Sofia Beatrice Quintela, export counsellor at the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau, said during the Usapang Exports.

An initiative at the International Trade Centre (ITC), Quintela said women entrepreneurs can connect with global businesses, export products and services, learn through free e-learning materials, and participate in workshops, trade fairs, buyer-seller events, SheTrades Global and other business events

Its flagship event, SheTrades Global, brings together women entrepreneurs from all these regions. Women whose businesses are ready to export will have a unique chance to connect and meet potential buyers, investors and partners.

“We also have SheTrades Invest so you can increase your access to finance and get connected with buyers and investors to the SheTrades Invest,” Quintela said.

Dedicated to unlocking finance for women, the SheTrades Invest project facilitates the connection of capital providers with women seeking funding and small and medium enterprises supporting women, while promoting the mainstream of gender-lens investment and building capacity of women entrepreneurs to become investment and due diligence ready.

She said they will also have access to ITC’s market analysis tools like trademap, sustainability map, procurement map, market access map, investment map, trade competitiveness map, and export potential tool.

Virtually launched in December 2020, Quintela said 222 Filipinas already onboarded to the PH SheTrades Hub as of November 2022.

She said worldwide, the hub has already achieved to connect three million women entrepreneurs to the market in 2021 and a global network of 80 partner organizations from across 65 countries.

“We already have 13 trade hubs and 15 active projects and $382 million generated in trade and investment opportunities facilitated access to the market for 40,000 women entrepreneurs,” she added.

The DTI-EMB serves as the focal bureau or the local host agency for the global SheTrades hub. – Press release