ecomConnect

Following more than two years of e-commerce training for women-led businesses in Central America, ITC ecomConnect launched a leadership programme to provide advanced companies the opportunity to mentor fellow beneficiaries.

The programme allowed businesses who gained extensive knowledge during the one-on-one e-commerce coaching to leverage their experience and scale the e-lab methodology applied during the project. ‘E-labs’ were organised by the ITC to provide the most seasoned businesses with specific support, covering testing, learning, and measuring, which could later be passed on to less advanced beneficiaries. As a result of the e-labs, 10 websites, 11 Etsy stores and 47 eBay stores were created and optimized with ITC’s direct support. This meant 820 online orders with more than 62,000 USD of revenue gained, most coming from buyers in the US and Europe. In addition, and thanks to the partnership with NOVICA, which was signed at the end of the project, project beneficiaries had additional revenue: 37 beneficiaries gained 34,000 USD.

The leadership programme saw a total of 36 Central American business owners. To foster inter-regional collaboration and camaraderie, they were grouped into 18 teams consisting of entrepreneurs from various parts of Central America, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panamá.

The E-Commerce Leadership Programme is part of the “Linking Central American Women Business Enterprises (WBEs) with the Global Gifts and Home Decoration Market” initiative. The project is funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC) in collaboration with the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) and national implementing partners in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

As part of the SheTrades Rwanda project, ITC’s ecomConnect team worked with women owned coffee processors to improve their branding and online channels. ITC also piloted two traceability solutions with two women owned coffee growing and processing businesses in Rwanda: Nova coffee and Tropic coffee. With Nova coffee, we trialed a blockchain technology solution developed by Farmer Connect.

Thanks to their platform, we were able to digitize transaction records to securely track the origin of the coffee and bring greater visibility on both the Nova business and the women farmers to the end consumer. With Tropic coffee, we used the OLAM AtSource solution to capture detailed data on how Tropic coffee’s product was grown, harvested, and processed at all stages as well as key social and climate metrics. With these digital traceability tools, we captured data from over 1,000 women coffee growers in Rwanda. Both businesses were able to capture important data that confirmed the efforts they are devoting to producing high-quality sustainable coffee as well as supporting their local communities and women farmers.

As part of the Ready4Trade Central Asia project funded by the European Union, ITC ecomConnect launched its e-commerce enterprise training and advisory support to over 200 SMEs in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in 2021.

Companies represent diverse industry sectors, and national coaches tailor the support to SMEs helping them open or optimize relevant online channels. Etsy and eBay are the preferred channels for artisanal B2C producers, and within the year, ITC supported 30 artisans with the opening and optimization of their online shops. A total 333 Etsy sales were made to international customers worth more than 41,000 USD while eBay sales hit 188 worth more than 14,000 USD.

Learn more about ITC ecomConnect impact in Central Asia through the story of one of the project beneficiaries here.

ITC helped a group of beneficiary SMEs to work together and form a consortium to sell complimentary products online. This was the result of the hard work carried out under the E-commerce for Women Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa regions (MENA) initiative in Tunisia, funded by the World Bank and provided by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).

The team did not only train the women who joined forces to create a consortium, but also trained 20 advisors and 90 women-led small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) on how to undertake market research, develop an e-commerce strategy, create digital content, handle online payments, manage inventory, prepare for shipment and customs clearance as well as promote products and services through digital channels. SMEs received in-depth training and individual support in selecting and listing on virtual marketplaces and with the support of their advisors, most SMEs have created seller accounts on local and regional marketplaces.

From June to December 2021, 270 products have been sold through different marketplaces with a turnover approaching 10,000 USD. To support SMEs, ITC ecomConnect launched sponsored campaigns on the two main marketplaces Jumia and Little Jenaina and provided graphic design services.

Learn here how women are transforming their business digitally in Tunisia.

ConnectUEMOA is an online platform created to promote commercial opportunities as well as the products from the West African region. This portal provides a directory of enterprises in different sectors as well as a marketplace with digital products.