The first course will be held in Skopje, North Macedonia, and led by finance minister and Grouper.mk co-founder Nina Angelovska.
#eTradeforWomen
UNCTAD kicks off its eTrade for Women masterclass series to help women entrepreneurs in developing countries and economies in transition build the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the digital economy.
More than 40 female entrepreneurs from the Balkan Peninsula are expected to attend the first class, set for 26 to 27 October in Skopje, North Macedonia. It will be led by Nina Angelovska, the nation’s finance minister and co-founder of the e-commerce platform Grouper.mk.
Ms. Angelovska was recently appointed as an advocate of UNCTAD’s eTrade for Women initiative to increase women’s participation in the digital economy – an arena where female players are still greatly outnumbered.
“I’m committed to inspire other women, to show them that if they embrace digital technologies the sky is limit,” Ms. Angelovska said.
The masterclass, a cornerstone of UNCTAD’s initiative, is her first opportunity as an advocate to inspire more women to follow in her digital footsteps.
“When I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey, I set out to change the e-commerce industry in my country,” she said, adding that when Grouper.mk opened in 2011, less than 1% of North Macedonians shopped online.
“Now I want to use my story to change the global e-commerce landscape.”
She added: “Without more women digital entrepreneurs, e-commerce growth cannot benefit everyone, and it cannot help fight poverty effectively.”
The ins and outs of e-commerce
For the masterclass, Ms. Angelovska will be joined by instructors from companies such as Booking.com and Seos.si.
Sessions will cover the ins and outs of growing an online business, such as search engine optimization and social media marketing, and how to turn raw data into digital intelligence.
But the participants will also learn how to voice their concerns to government officials so that new policies affecting e-commerce make it easier for women to do business online.
“Overall, the eTrade for Women initiative wants to promote women’s digital economic empowerment,” said Torbjörn Fredriksson, in charge of UNCTAD’s ICT policy section.
“One way to do this,” he said, “is to inspire more women digital entrepreneurs. The other is to give women digital entrepreneurs a bigger voice in policymaking.”
UNCTAD is organizing the masterclass with the finance ministry and the Macedonian E-commerce Association.
The association’s secretary-general, Victor Stojkoski, says they believe that a better future for North Macedonia can be created “by embracing digitalization and becoming a smart society.”
In integral part of building such a society, he says, is helping women entrepreneurs build the digital knowledge and skills they need to succeed.
The masterclass in North Macedonia will be followed by similar sessions in China, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico and Rwanda, delivered by the other six UNCTAD eTrade for Women advocates.
The eTrade for Women initiative is financially supported by the Dutch government.