The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) has launched a digital training programme aimed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southern Africa that are exporting, or are interested in exporting products to South Africa or the US.
AWIEF, in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub, says the initiative will increase the investor, export readiness and competitiveness of 100 SMEs in the region.
In statement, AWIEF says the programme seeks to leverage the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a US trade Act that significantly enhances market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African countries to drive export trade for SMEs.
“The objectives of this new AWIEF programme are to increase exports from the Southern African countries to South Africa; increase exports from all the nine targeted Southern African countries to the US, leveraging AGOA; and support firms seeking specific trade-related technology transfer,” reads the statement.
SMEs in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia are set to benefit.
The selected small businesses will undergo a comprehensive eight-week programme to help strengthen participants’ governance, regulatory compliance and risk management capabilities, which will be implemented as an online training course through the AWIEF digital platform.
“We are very excited to have won this project funding from USAID and to be partnering with USAID TradeHub. SMEs are the power engines of Africa economies and represent the bulk of all businesses in Africa,” comments Irene Ochem, AWIEF founder and CEO.
“This programme is about supporting Southern African entrepreneurs to expand their businesses by accessing new markets and trading beyond their borders. It is also important for SMEs to leverage the huge opportunities offered by AGOA to enter into international trade with the US.”
AWIEF says applications are invited from all SMEs registered in the above-mentioned Southern African countries.
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