As a member of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry presidents’ delegation to the International Trade Center and the World Trade Organization in Geneva, I was recently privileged to meet two indefatigable and visionary women leaders.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian-American economist who has served as the seventh director general of the World Trade Organization since 2021. She is the first woman and first African to head the WTO. Ms Pamela Rosemarie Coke-Hamilton is a Jamaican lawyer and trade expert who has been serving as the executive director of the International Trade Center since 2020.
The World Trade Organization is the only global international organization dealing with trade rules between nations. At its heart are WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by most of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows smoothly, predictably, and freely. The International Trade Centre is a multilateral agency that has a joint mandate with the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The headquarters of the WTO and ITC are in Geneva.
The Pakistan delegation was invited to attend a session at the WTO Public Forum 2024. The theme was ‘Re-globalization: Better Trade for a Better World’, and the highlight of the session was the signing of the agreement for a contribution of $5 million to the WEIDE Fund by the UAE government which marks a pivotal moment in advancing gender equality in global trade, providing crucial resources for women-led micro and small enterprises.
The interaction with the two leaders was just fabulous. Their comments, vision, and their responses to the questions posed by the moderator were interspersed with humor, witticism, and delightful bon mot. I have been a delegate at many international conferences and summits and have listened to top personalities, but at the Forum, I was awestruck by the passion, commitment, and determination for women’s empowerment and gender equality by the two leaders.
What, then, is the WEIDE Fund? On February 25, 2024, on the sidelines of the 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi, the WTO and ITC announced a $50 million global fund to help women tap into opportunities in international trade and the digital economy. At the WTO Public Forum on September 11, 2024, a groundbreaking initiative was unveiled with the launch of the Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund.
This global effort is set to enhance opportunities for women entrepreneurs by supporting their access to international trade and digital markets. It will help women-led businesses and women entrepreneurs in developing economies and least-developed countries adopt digital technologies and expand the online presence of their enterprises. The mission is to empower women entrepreneurs by offering grants and technical assistance aimed at expanding their international business prospects.
Business support organizations in developing countries will be selected to manage the fund’s distribution, facilitating grants of up to $30,000, and offering additional support to help women thrive in the global marketplace. This initiative highlights a significant step forward in creating a more inclusive global trade environment and supporting women entrepreneurs around the world.
With the support of the WEIDE Fund, women-led small businesses will be able to improve their business operations to increase their competitiveness, transact business and trade more effectively internationally, use new or more online channels to sell their products/services, create and upgrade employment opportunities, and benefit from additional assistance provided by a corporate partner as a result of support from the fund.
How can Pakistani women entrepreneurs take advantage of the WEIDE Fund? The first and foremost action should be the formation of business support organizations by trade bodies such as the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Federation of Pakistan, or even Global Compact Network Pakistan. Active women chambers across the nation could also partner with these organizations
Women entrepreneurs generally face various hurdles, including limited access to digital technologies, inadequate financial resources, and unequal opportunities for participation in international trade. The World Bank estimates that 70 per cent of formal women-led businesses in developing economies cannot get the capital they need. Women traders in the domestic market also face disproportionately higher trade barriers, such as exclusion from male-dominated distribution networks, and higher risk of abuse, including corruption and harassment. It is estimated that women who trade digitally can earn up to three times more than women who trade in domestic markets.
WEIDE is destined to be a game-changer for women around the globe. This is apparent from the views expressed by both the leaders of WTO and ITC. Dr Okonjo-Iweala said: “It brings me great joy today to launch the pilot phase of applications for the Fund since it represents a pivotal step forward in our collective journey towards gender equality in trade and economic opportunities. This initiative is about much more than financial contributions and technical advice; it’s about fostering a future in which women are recognized as indispensable drivers of economic progress.”
Ms Coke-Hamilton said: “The WEIDE Fund was set up with a very clear and simple purpose to help women-led businesses take full advantage of the digital revolution so they would grow trade and take the world by storm. It’s also a promise to women entrepreneurs around the world that we will never falter in our commitment to gender equality underpinned by women’s economic empowerment. It’s what compels us to call on everyone here today to step in and step up so that this WEIDE Fund can not only live up to the expectations of women entrepreneurs but actually surpass them.”
How can Pakistani women entrepreneurs take advantage of the WEIDE Fund? The first and foremost action should be the formation of business support organizations by trade bodies such as the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Federation of Pakistan, or even Global Compact Network Pakistan. Active women chambers across the nation could also partner with these organizations.
The plan is that business support organizations in developing countries will be selected to manage the fund’s distribution, facilitating grants of up to $30,000, and offering additional support to help women thrive in the global marketplace. The Pakistani BSOs should primarily be non-profit and should serve women’s businesses and support their growth and success. Through technical assistance, BSOs can provide real-world advice, coaching, tools, and access to experts in areas like accounting, finance, cash flow management, marketing, digitizing the business, Human Resource strategies, legal, and daily operations.
The trade bodies should also partner with ITC SheTrades to set up hubs that are resource centres dedicated to women entrepreneurs and implemented in partnership with the ITC SheTrades Initiative. KCCI is already on board with this. SheTrades Hubs offer women entrepreneurs the knowledge, skills and platforms to access market and investment opportunities.
Financed by the UK International Development, the ITC SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme aims to foster an enabling gender-inclusive business ecosystem by promoting comprehensive policy and data and engaging BSOs, private sector partners, and women-led businesses in the Commonwealth+ countries.
Mr Abdelsalam Mohamed A Al-Ali, UAE ambassador to Switzerland, very inspiringly stated that “by supporting this kind of initiative, UAE is not only enhancing our commitment to global trade but also ensuring that benefits of trade are accessible to everyone, including women entrepreneurs, who are often underrepresented in global trade.” Read: Pakistani women entrepreneurs!
The writer is a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.