UNCTAD has appointed new “eTrade for Women advocates” to empower women in the digital economy and promote more inclusive e-commerce ecosystems.
Birame Sock from Senegal, Damilola Olokesusi from Nigeria, Lennise Ng from Malaysia, Mona Ataya from the United Arab Emirates and Pierangela Sierra from Ecuador are the third cohort of advocates since UNCTAD launched its eTrade for Women initiative in 2019.
“The global economic landscape has changed tremendously since we launched the eTrade for Women initiative almost three years ago,” said UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics, Shamika N. Sirimanne.
“But the challenge remains the same: we need to take action to reduce a growing digital divide. The advocates can help us change the rules of the game to level the playing field for women,” Ms. Sirimanne said.
Bridging the gender divide in the digital economy
The advocates will help tackle gender disparities in the digital economy.
They will serve as role models, using their knowledge and experience to help other women digital entrepreneurs across the world overcome gender biases and grow successful businesses.
Studies by the International Finance Corporation show that women could add over US$14.5 billion to e-commerce markets in Africa alone and US$280 billion in South-East Asia, between 2025 and 2030.
A critical part of the advocates’ mandate is to bring the voice of women to the policymaking table and help create more and better opportunities in the digital space.
They will engage with policymakers to ensure the needs of digital small and medium enterprises are considered by governments when making policies and regulations on digital ecosystems.
Over 200 women entrepreneurs supported
UNCTAD’s advocates have supported over 200 women digital entrepreneurs across the globe since 2019.
Under their leadership, the initiative has held eight regional masterclasses in Latin America, West and East Africa, South-East Asia, the Balkans, and the Arab region.
They have also created eTrade for Women regional communities of women digital entrepreneurs in 34 countries.
Ms. Sock is the new eTrade for Women advocate for French-speaking African countries.
She is the founder and CEO of Kwely, a new business-to-business wholesale sourcing marketplace for products made in Africa.
She is also the founder and managing partner of Founder 5, Inc. a startup management group focused on developing and advising ventures in the United States and Africa in various areas.
Ms. Sock is a tech visionary with over 20 years of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, and high-level executive in digital media.
Damilola Olokesusi
Ms. Olokesusi is the new eTrade for Women advocate for English-speaking African countries.
She is the founder and CEO of Shuttlers, Nigeria’s leading technology-driven transportation startup.
Shuttlers is revolutionizing how professionals and organizations commute in some of Africa’s busiest metropolises.
She is also behind the initiative “Shemoves Shuttles”, an all-female shuttle service turning female professionals’ commute into learning time.
Lennise Ng
Ms. Ng is the new eTrade for Women advocate for South-East Asia.
She is the founder and CEO of Dropee, an artificial intelligence-based business-to-business marketplace that allows brands and distributors to better serve over 100,000 mom-and-pop stores across Malaysia and Indonesia.
She is on a mission to help digitize small and medium enterprises – especially women-led companies – across South-East Asia as a source of economic growth and development.
Ms. Ataya is starting the second year of her tenure as the eTrade for Women advocate for Arab States.
She is the founder and CEO of Mumzworld, a leading online marketplace for products for mothers, babies, and children in the Middle East, based in the United Arab Emirates.
She has received over 80 awards and is considered one of the most influential businesswomen in the Arab region.
Ms. Sierra is starting the second year of her tenure as the eTrade for Women advocate for Latin America and the Caribbean.
She is the founder and CEO of Tipti, the fastest-growing groceries e-commerce company in Ecuador and Panama.
She is also the director of the Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce.
UNCTAD’s eTrade for Women initiative is funded by the governments of the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
Project explores blockchain solutions for trade facilitation
UNCTAD integrates blockchain technology in its technical assistance, capacity-building and research programmes.
UNCTAD and five UN regional agencies on 28 June launched a four-year project on the use of blockchain to simplify and expedite import, export and transit procedures.
Blockchain can help ease trade in the wake of supply chain crises, such as those emanating from the blockage of the Suez Canal, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which have caused catastrophic trade disruptions, especially in developing countries.
“Given its potentially significant economic, social, political and governance impacts, blockchain technology is relevant to UNCTAD’s mandate of promoting beneficial and fair integration of developing countries into the global economy,” said director of UNCTAD’s technology and logistics division, Shamika N. Sirimanne.
“The rapid advances and uptake of blockchain technology add to the urgency for UNCTAD to examine opportunities and challenges for developing countries, facilitate intergovernmental consensus-building, and provide technical assistance to countries in this area,” she added.
Promoting blockchain together
UNCTAD will work with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and other UN regional commissions for Africa (ECA), Europe (ECE), Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on the project.
It will coordinate the collaboration of public and private sectors working on trade facilitation and blockchain, leveraging its expertise in trade, innovation and the role of blockchain and technological change in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UNCTAD will conduct training sessions on blockchain in trade facilitation for decision makers from developing countries and institutions during global, regional and national capacity-building workshops. It will also produce a global report on blockchain’s implications on trade facilitation performance and trade.
Funded by the UN Development Account at US$663,000, the project is expected to benefit over 200 people engaged in trade facilitation in at least five developing countries, one from each region served by the UN commissions.
It will strengthen national innovation and technological capacities related to blockchain technology in customs and trade operations in the selected countries. The goal is to increase trade and enhance competitiveness in support of sustainable development, the SDGs and Agenda 2030.
Power of blockchain solutions
Blockchain-based solutions offer transparency, security, efficiency and predictability with fewer fees and less time. They provide real-time information on the movement and origin of goods, enabling better management of supply chains.
They can help tackle challenges and issues related to trade facilitation, such as the need for innovation and digitalization of trade procedures. They can also boost governments’ ability to exchange trade data across borders and enhance transparency to consumers.
UNCTAD encourages developing countries to design policies to promote knowledge-building, skills development in blockchain and foster an innovation ecosystem in their digitalization and trade compliance efforts to increase reliability and resilience.
Bringing sustainable entrepreneurship to the next level
UNCTAD continues its long-standing commitment to help developing countries harness the power of entrepreneurship as a tool for sustainable and inclusive development.
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which employ 60 per cent to 70 per cent of workers worldwide and produce 50 per cent of global GDP, were hit hard by COVID-19.
They were 2.5 times more likely to go under than larger businesses during the first months of the crisis. And small businesses are less prepared for the impacts of climate change, which could trigger a pandemic-sized shock every decade.
To underscore the urgent need to boost support for small businesses around the globe, UNCTAD is organizing for international MSME Day 2022 a joint UN event in New York in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the UN and the International Council for Small Business.
The event on 27 June will highlight how governments and international organizations can get MSMEs the support they need to build back stronger from the pandemic and boost their resilience to the climate emergency and other crises.
New online tool for entrepreneurs
To mark the day, UNCTAD is also launching the “Empretec corner” – an internal online management tool to enhance collaboration and information sharing among its Empretec entrepreneurship programme.
The tool will strengthen the support UNCTAD provides to small business owners through Empretec’s network of global entrepreneurship centres in 41 countries.
“Entrepreneurship is a strong driver of socioeconomic development, especially when it concerns micro, small and medium-sized enterprises,” said Arlette Verploegh, chief of entrepreneurship development at UNCTAD.
She added: “We at UNCTAD have a long-standing commitment to supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems that are truly inclusive, including vulnerable groups such as women and the youth, promote innovation and new technologies and help communities build a better future.”
Supporting post-COVID-19 MSME resurgence
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing global lockdowns that severely affected businesses, UNCTAD quickly reoriented its work priorities on entrepreneurship.
UNCTAD now leads the global initiative towards post-COVID-19 resurgence of the MSMEs sector, part of the UN framework for the immediate response to COVID-19.
This initiative develops and implements capacity-building tools for governments and MSMEs in developing countries and economies in transition to strengthen their resilience while mitigating the economic and social impact of the crisis.
The initiative also facilitates MSMEs’ contribution to the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“During these difficult times, the world needs practical solutions and recommendations that are easily and immediately implementable,” Ms. Verploegh said.
She underscored the critical need for upgrading entrepreneurs’ skills, promoting entrepreneurial behaviour and supporting schemes that lead to sustainable medium to long-term entrepreneurship strategies.
An entrepreneurship policy framework
In addition to training entrepreneurs, UNCTAD provides advice to governments based on the six pillars of its Entrepreneurship Policy Framework: entrepreneurship strategy, regulatory environment, education, technology exchange and innovation, access to finance, and awareness and networking.
The organization looks at existing entrepreneurship-related strategies in a country, identifies gaps and inconsistencies and presents to governments recommendations on priority areas.
“We believe that by doing so, the current needs of entrepreneurs can be more quickly addressed and the risk of overlapping inconsistencies between many strategies that touch upon entrepreneurship is reduced,” Ms. Verploegh said.
UNCTAD also advises governments to design strategies that cover the needs of all entrepreneurs, as a “one-size-fits-all” approach isn’t effective.
“Here, we think of the needs of entrepreneurs by necessity, those by opportunity and startups, to name a few,” Ms. Verploegh added.
She said UNCTAD believes governments can delegate 80 per cent of strategy implementation to entrepreneurship promotion agencies.
These agencies are more closely connected to the private sector, hence they’re in a good position to share up-to-date information on entrepreneurship, conduct capacity-building activities and offer business facilitation tools.
Delegation of implementation work allows governments to focus on policymaking and designing coherent strategies.
UNCTAD is currently working with the governments of Ecuador, Seychelles, South Africa and Uganda on national entrepreneurship strategies.
Empretec programme upgraded
UNCTAD also upgraded the Empretec programme and its training workshops to help promising entrepreneurs put their ideas into action and fledging businesses to grow.
Since the programme’s creation 34 years ago, 500,000 entrepreneurs have been trained in over 40 countries. Over the last two years, over 700 trainers and entrepreneurs from 28 countries have benefited from Empretec activities.
The participants were trained on areas such as running a farming business, ensuring business sustainability and designing entrepreneurial strategies. A version of the training has been developed for people with low literacy skills.
UNCTAD’s work on research and capacity-building for entrepreneurs is complemented by a set of business facilitation tools for government agencies in developing countries.
The tools, for example, make it easier for entrepreneurs to register their businesses online – this was convenient during COVID-19 lockdowns, when offices were closed and work was moved online.
UNCTAD is designing a 2.0 version of its Entrepreneurship Policy Framework studies and its Empretec entrepreneurship global network, to be unveiled in the second half of 2022.
The organization is building upon UN General Assembly resolutions that recognize UNCTAD’s programmes as drivers of sustainable development of entrepreneurship since 2012.
