The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, fully dedicated to supporting small businesses of developing countries to trade. ITC is the focal point in the United Nations system for technical cooperation with developing countries and economies in transition, on trade promotion and export development.
ITC puts trade-led growth at the centre of its work in developing countries:
- provide country-and client-specific tailored support through unique advisory services, capacity building, training and mentoring, free tools and business data, and trade-specific publications.
- improve the availability and use of trade intelligence; strengthen trade support institutions; enhance policies for the benefit of exporting enterprises; build the export capacity of enterprises to respond to market opportunities; and mainstream inclusiveness.
- leverage the current digital momentum, the exponential use of e-commerce platforms and artificial intelligence by incorporating digital elements in all of our projects.
- connect micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to global and regional value chains, a major contributor to economic growth and poverty reduction.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
- How does ITC’s work and activities specifically touch upon e-commerce and the digital economy?
Digital connectivity is increasingly recognized as a driver of any economy. Small businesses need Internet access to be resilient, agile, and competitive in global markets. Participating in digital trade brings tangible social and economic benefits including new trade revenues, new jobs, and new investments. But for many small businesses in developing countries, getting online is expensive and requires new skills to capitalize on opportunities.
ITC plans to connect 20,000 small businesses from 17 countries to online opportunities by 2025, strengthening 4,000 digital entrepreneurs and reinforcing a network of 30 business support organizations.
ITC’s Response:
1. Improved capacity of stakeholders to manage the implications of digital trade
Lead multistakeholder working groups on shared initiatives, such as within the Broadband Commission.
Develop thought leadership on the implications of digital for small businesses, through applications and extension of the ITC SME Competitiveness Survey.
2. A more supportive business ecosystem; affordable and accessible connectivity
Train business support organizations on the implications of digital connectivity and ensure that they can advocate for connectivity and support changes to the digital ecosystem.
Promote appropriate support of digital entrepreneurship, especially by providing services which enable widespread or effective use of digital connectivity by small businesses.
3. A more conducive policy and regulatory environment for small businesses
Engage in public-private dialogue on digital connectivity and trade topics.
Advise policymakers on the implications of digital trade related policy and negotiations.
4. Improved capacity among small businesses to trade digitally
Build an online community for networking and learning (ecomConnect).
Establish local business support centres (hubs) to provide training and coaching.
In addition, launched in 2014, ITC’s E-learning Programme and its platform (the SME Trade Academy) offer practical offline and online courses, workshops and learning material to support skills development for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and trade advisors in both the public and private sectors. Covering a wide range of trade-related topics, the SME Trade Academy delivers a range of e-learning courses of relevance to e-commerce and the digital economy.
We’re working with 100 small businesses across Africa to improve their online sales. During the Global SME Ministerial Meeting, 18 of them came to Johannesburg to showcase their work.
Their efforts paid off, as 13 of them collectively achieved $330,000 in sales and investments.
