Women for Intra-African Trade

CAWEE, as a lead implementing organization, is facilitating intra-African trade in African 3 countries: Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. To implement this project, entitled ‘Boosting Intra-African Trade: African Women Taking the Lead’, funding was secured from the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund 2020, U.S. Department of State. Partners of this project are the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) Chapters in those mentioned countries.

The project focuses in establishing e-market platform in facilitating intra-African trade in the mentioned project partner countries, with ultimate purpose of connecting buyers and sellers online, as empowering women economically is powering the African Continent. The project is unique providing virtual trading platform for women/girls to meet potential buyers, unique being first of its kind virtually connecting African women in those countries, women taking lead role. This website provides African women business owners’ user-friendly, high-traffic e-commerce platform dedicated in making it easy for them to trade within the continent.

This e-market platform is in its process of development at a right time where Africa has stated implementing its trading agreement, i.e., African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, where myriad of opportunities have been unleashed for the African people, especially African women SMEs. The AfCFTA will boost wealth creation channels for growing SMEs especially businesses owned by women, hence, unlocking the potential of African women SMEs within the Continent to trade amongst themselves.