The Executive Director/ CEO of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Olusegun Awolowo hosted the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the International Trade Centre (ITC)-NEPC Roundtable discussion on She Trades, Small and Medium Scale Sized Enterprises at Export House, Abuja.
The International Trade Centre has been implementing projects on women and trade in Nigeria since the establishment of the She Trades Hub hosted by the NEPC in July 2016.
The projects enhance the competiveness of women entrepreneurs and make market linkages to regional and global value chains, and in addition promote an enabling policy eco -system for women entrepreneurs. Key sectors of focus include agribusiness, textiles and apparel and Information Technology sectors.
Awolowo said the NEPC is actively engaged in strategic collaborations and formidable partnerships to achieve its goals.
READ ALSO: Igboho: Yoruba no longer part of Nigeria, we want separation
“A clear area of focus for us has been a drive to gain significant participation of women in non-oil exports such as the She Trades initiative,” he said.
Nigeria was included in the pilot of SheTrades in the Commonwealth programme (2018-2021) funded by the UK Department for International Development DFID launched during CHOGM 2018.
The DG, WTO Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala thanked the NEPC for its role in encouraging women entrepreneurs and exporters:
-Advertisement-
She said, “My visit to the NEPC has ended on a high note. I am so happy to see, interact and engage with women entrepreneurs and exporters.
“We have so many products, thanks to the work t of the NEPC and ITC. The range of products packaging and quality have greatly improved, The World Trade Organization will continue to work to support Nigeria’s economy”.
She Trades partnerships extend across the private sector as well as business support organizations such as Microsoft (on the delivery of digital capacity building), Access Bank(to facilitate access to finance for women entrepreneurs) and several agricultural cooperatives to connect female producers to market.
We do everything possible to supply quality news and information to all our valuable readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
-Advertisement-
-Want to get the news as it breaks?-
