© International
Trade Centre, International Trade Forum - Issue 1/2003
 |
The First Lady, Chief (Mrs.) Stella
Obasanjo |
Workshops in Nigeria, Mauritius and Mozambique
took place in February as part of ITC's work to promote gender in
trade development and increase exports of services from developing
countries. The workshops were aimed at women entrepreneurs offering
business services, such as information technology, legal,
accounting, translation, design, etc.
Business services represent the fastest-growing component of
international trade. In Nigeria, the initiative was launched by the
First Lady, Chief (Mrs.) Stella Obasanjo.
Over 150 entrepreneurs attended the sessions, which offered
practical tips on topics such as international partnering,
relationship marketing and effective networking techniques. Several
strategies were also suggested to engage women entrepreneurs in the
mainstream business community since, on average, less than 5% of
participants in ITC's previously-offered services export workshops
have been women. Yet, most of the firms exporting services
worldwide are owned by women, and they are often very small (less
than five employees). In addition, it is estimated that over 75% of
women-owned business are in the service sector.
Due to the fact that numerous service sectors were represented
at the workshops, several preliminary partnership discussions were
initiated among the participants.
In an effort to continue these well-received workshops in
regional locations of the countries, training modules were provided
by ITC's Trade in Services Unit to various trade support
institutions such as services industry and women entrepreneurs'
associations.