Abdulwahab Isa 
The International Trade Center ( ITC ) has onboarded 4,800 Nigerian women for the trading program – SheTrades supported by the World Bank.
Executive Secretary, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Nonye Ayeni confirmed this Wednesday in Abuja at SheTrades Nigeria hub Interactive session.
‘’In 2017, NEPC launched the Women in Export Development Programme and assigned women desk officers, in all its regional and state coordinating offices to provide advisory services for women-led businesses across Nigeria, it is noteworthy that the collaboration with the ICT has continued to yield positive results particularly in the implementation of the women in Export Development Programme’’, she said.
Ayeni said from 2018 till date about 7,800 women entrepreneurs have been supported to enhance their export operations through the SheTrades Nigeria Hub.
According to her, through collaboration with the public and private sector, the women in Export Development Programme has recorded some successes in terms of the provision of better trade opportunities for women, engagement with women groups to build better support networks and access to information and resources for women-led Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises [MSMEs], knowledge and experiences sharing.
‘’NEPC has sponsored 125 women-led MSMEs to acquire certifications such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point [HACCP] Food and Drug Administration [FDA], HALAL and ISO 22000, under the ‘’go Global, Go Certification’’ project which was launched in 2021 while 120 women entrepreneurs from various states of the federation were given grants to develop their businesses through the women inclusion component of the Export expansion Facility Programme [EEFP] ‘’
She explained that only two weeks ago, the council participated in the high-level event at the launch of the WTO/ITC Women Exporters in the Digital Economy[WEIDE] fund in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, stressing, ‘’I am optimistic that members of the SheTrades Nigeria Hub will be encouraged to key into the women exporters in the digital economy fund when applications commence in the second quarter of this year’’.
She assured that going forward, NEPC would be generating gender-disaggregated data and mean-streaming women’s participation in international trade through the formation of women-led businesses, digital skills acquisition, certification and facilitating access to finance and markets.
‘’To achieve true gender inclusion in the non-oil export sector, women-led businesses must be supported to overcome challenges such as infrastructural deficiencies, low access to finance and resources, poor access to information and limited access to markets’’.
In his remarks, the Nigerian Ambassador to the World Trade Organization [WTO], Dr Adamu Abdulhamid urged the committee on the project of improving sanitary and phytosanitary [SPS] compliance to boost Nigeria’s Export Capacity be supported by stakeholders for successful implementation.
