The Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), in collaboration with the USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID TradeHub), is pleased to announce the launch of a new program that will improve the investor, export readiness, and competitiveness of 100 Southern African SMEs.
The ‘Enhanced Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Investment and Export Readiness Through a Digital Platform’ program, which is funded by USAID, is aimed at SMEs in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia that are either already exporting or interested in exporting to South Africa and/or the United States.
The initiative attempts to use the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a US trade act that considerably improves market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations and is valid through 2025, to help SMEs grow their export commerce.
The goals of the new AWIEF program are to (a) enhance exports from Southern African countries to South Africa; (b) increase exports from all nine targeted Southern African countries to the United States via AGOA; and (c) assist enterprises seeking specialized trade-related technology transfers (e.g. labeling, branding, laboratories).
The full 8-week curriculum, which will be delivered as an online training course through the AWIEF Community, will assist participants to improve their governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management capabilities.
“We are really delighted to have obtained this project financing from USAID and to be cooperating with USAID TradeHub,” says AWIEF Founder and CEO Irene Ochem. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the backbone of Africa’s economies, accounting for the vast majority of the continent’s firms. This program aims to assist Southern African entrepreneurs in expanding their enterprises by allowing them to access new markets and trade outside of their boundaries. It’s also critical for SMEs to take advantage of AGOA’s vast potential for international trade with the United States.”
Applicants are invited to apply.
All SMEs registered in the above-mentioned Southern African countries are encouraged to apply. Agriculture, agro-processing, textiles, and apparel are among the priority industry sectors.
Please use this link to submit your application.
The deadline is April 11, 2022.
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