SheTrades Global

The SheTrades initiative at the International Trade Centre (ITC) has changed the economic lives of three million women in 30 countries by connecting them to markets. We have opened 12 regional hubs across Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and Europe, and we continue to grow.

The initiative centres on empowering women engaging in international trade and creating a women-inclusive fairer business ecosystem. We help them overcome barriers and, with them, identify areas that urgently need to be addressed.

Our flagship event, SheTrades Global, brings together women entrepreneurs from all these regions. For women whose businesses are ready to export, they have a unique chance to connect meet potential buyers, investors and partners.

Previous editions of SheTrades Global — held in Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Brazil, Rwanda, Mexico, and China — included representatives from over 85 countries and generated over $80 million of new business for women entrepreneurs. 

Participation is free.

Sustainable resilient value chains

Connecting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to value chains and helping them succeed is central to ITC’s mission. We work with all stakeholders in areas that can improve income and employment and have the greatest potential for developmental change, and develop strategies and build partnerships along those value chains. See how our Alliances for Action and Trade for Sustainable Development initiatives support these objectives.

Inclusive trade

We understand that inclusion is essential to bridge economic, social and environmental gaps. ITC emphasizes initiatives that create opportunities for women, youth and other people in vulnerable situations, such as the poor, refugees, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities and other often marginalized groups. See how our SheTrades, Youth and Trade, Ethical Fashion Initiative and Refugee Employment and Skills initiatives work towards these objectives.

Green Trade

Environmental sustainability and climate resilience have become key determinants of enterprise competitiveness. ITC supports ecopreneurs and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to build and scale their green innovations and products. We promote the alignment of trade- and environment-related policies. See how our Green2Compete and Trade for Sustainable Development initiatives aim to end unsustainable practices.

E-commerce

ITC centres its efforts on the digitalization of trade and the specific constraints faced by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular e-commerce of goods and services. We focus on facilitating inclusive participation in e-commerce by simultaneously enabling firm growth and addressing challenges faced at the enterprise, business ecosystem and policy levels. See how our ecomConnect initiative helps provide tools and solutions for the development of e-commerce.

Regional integration

ITC’s interventions at the regional and inter-regional level focus on boosting regional trade and advancing South-South trade and investment. We enhance supportive regulatory and institutional environments, and strive to integrate micro, small and medium-sized enterprises into regional value chains and connect them with emerging trade opportunities. See how our One Trade Africa empowers African enterprises, especially women- and youth-led businesses, to access market opportunities from continental integration.

Trade

We work to improve firm-level capacities to trade. ITC addresses the managerial, strategic and operational needs of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and helps create market linkages through a modular approach. We adapt our tools and methodologies to the needs of our clients and provide relevant services either directly or through partner organizations.

Goal

ITC aims to support 75,000 MSMEs in making changes to their business operations in 2022-2025, depending on funding.

Business

We strive to create more supportive business ecosystems by providing such services as information, training, legal and financial advice, marketing and advocacy. ITC also works with networks of business support organizations (BSOs) to develop joint strategies to benefit the ecosystem as a whole as well as the individuals working within.

Goal

ITC will support 1,200 BSOs to improve their operations in 2022-2025, depending on funding.

Policy

We work with government institutions and other stakeholders to craft inclusive, country-owned trade and investment strategies, monitor the implementation of strategies and make policy and regulatory frameworks more conducive for business development. We support trade and investment regimes that reduce compliance costs for MSMEs, and work to mainstream inclusion and environmental sustainability in our public-private dialogues and strategy solutions. Read more about related topic Trade development strategies.

Goal

At least 400 trade-related policies, strategies or regulations will be developed or changed with ITC assistance from 2022-2025, depending on funding.

Intelligence

We provide continuously improved business trade and market intelligence. Our public goods promote transparency and advocate for best practices. They facilitate access to information on trade dynamics, market access conditions, growth potential and policy choices, and possible business partners. We help stakeholders translate information into actionable intelligence, and aim to increase the user-friendliness of our public goods and expand cooperation with other organizations to enhance data collection, dissemination and related activities.

Goal

We plan to test and develop artificial intelligence models to incorporate new sources of data and invest in providing real-time information in selected areas.

At ITC, moonshots represent our bold solutions to confront the challenges experienced by small businesses in developing countries, to participate in global trade. They are our raised ambition for gender, youth, digital connectivity and green trade, aligned to our updated strategic plan, and grounded in our core expertise of delivering trade related technical assistance.