Stories

Call for proposals: Digital Champions for Small Business

25 junio 2021
ITC News

By bringing more small businesses into the digital economy, we help them grow, trade, and become resilient.

And this is where you can step in!

Are you an organization that supports small businesses? Are you a non-governmental organization that empowers small businesses and entrepreneurs through your development work?

Become a digital champion for small businesses!

We call for your prize-winning idea that helps small, exporting businesses in going digital.

We invite proposals from industry associations, chambers of commerce and non-governmental organizations that are experienced in MSME and digitalization issues.

The winning proposals will be announced at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference held in Geneva from 30 November to 3 December 2021.

With this competition, your ideas will not only raise awareness of the difficulties small businesses are facing when wanting to trade digitally but will also promote best practices in digital trade. Proposals on how to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises address the difficulties they face with digital trade should be submitted by 15 September 2021.

Ultimately, the initiative will help small businesses go digital and increase their participation in international trade.

On 25 June, the Digital Champions for Small Business initiative was launched at a joint event hosted by the World Trade Organization’s Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, ICC Secretary General John Denton, ITC Secretary General Pamela Coke-Hamilton and Ambassador Jose-Luis Cancela, Coordinator of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs, announced this innovative call for proposals.

THE FINE PRINT

What should the proposal entail?

• Proposals can focus on awareness-raising campaigns, competitions, capacity building, training and mentoring programmes.

• Proposals should be designed to be delivered by the entity submitting the proposal and should not focus on WTO negotiations, or proposed changes to WTO rules.

How do you submit your proposal?

• Proposals should include details on the concept, aims, timelines and other information as appropriate.

• Proposals should be no longer than three pages and should be sent to the following address in Word or PDF format: Digitalchampions [at] wto.org (Digitalchampions[at]wto[dot]org)

Deadline for the call for proposals is 15 September 2021.

Awards

Awards will be tailored to the winning proposals. The number of awards will be determined based on the proposals received. The private-sector sponsors are Google and Zoom.

Zoom will provide technology training virtually (live) and recordings.

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of the digital economy for businesses of all sizes throughout the world. MSMEs have historically struggled to enter the digital economy, due to lack of awareness, resources or technological know-how. The aim of the competition is to bring more MSMEs into the digital economy to help them grow, trade and become resilient.

Find more details here:

https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/msmesandtra_e/msmesandtra_e.htm

and

https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/msmesandtra_e/dcsm_callforproposals.pdf