Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), the International Trade Centre (ITC) as well as the City of Cape Town are giving women entrepreneurs across the Western Cape an opportunity to connect with other businesses and build a strong network for trade, through an initiative called SheTrades.
SheTrades is a new initiative launched by DSBD, Seda and the ITC, which seeks to connect women-owned small and medium businesses with local, regional and international markets. The initiative has already been launched in several other African countries and regions, including Zambia, Ghana, Gambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria and West Africa, with a goal to also provide at least 50,000 women-owned businesses in South Africa with a unique network and platform to connect to markets by 2023.
“Access to markets is one of the key barriers stifling growth and development of small businesses, in particular women owned-businesses, that are based in townships and rural areas. SheTrades will expose South African woman owned enterprises, to the global market with a potential to connect these business owners with potential customers and business partners,” said Seda Acting CEO Ms Ntokozo Majola.
To kick things off, Seda in partnership with DSBD, the ITC and Wesgro, the Tourism, Trade and Investment Agency of Cape Town and the Western Cape will host a SheTrades Awareness webinar on the 25th of March 2021, targeting businesswomen in the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, as well as Gauteng. The aim of the webinar is to educate and also provide these women with a platform to connect with diverse businesses, learn various new business skills through free e-learning materials, participate in exhibitions and stay up to date with ITC’s SheTrades news and activities.
Alderman James Vos commented: “The City is proud to partner with Wesgro and Seda to provide a platform for women entrepreneurs to network and ultimately secure more business. We are heavily focussed on supporting SMMEs to create the right conditions that lead to more investment and therefore job creation and the upskilling of more residents. To this end, SheTrades is just one of the many programmes and initiatives we support and will continue to find new and exciting ways to grow our local economy.”
“Growth in exports of local products is going to be key to the economic recovery of Cape Town and the Western Cape, as well as the rest of the country. We welcome initiatives that seek to support and further enable trade, especially amongst women entrepreneurs. We encourage entrepreneurs looking to expand their footprint and enter into new markets to take advantage of this unique opportunity by registering on the SheTrade’s website here, and by attending the webinar”, concluded Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris.
To register in advance for the webinar, go to: https://bit.ly/3kzdMIH