African Business Women to Benefit from Regional Forum Kicking Off in Nairobi

More than 180 women entrepreneurs from all over Africa will on Thursday convene at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) for an intra-regional conference on trade dubbed the East African Women in Intra-Regional Trade Conference & Exhibition.

The conference, the first ever in the East Africa region will be chaired by Hon. Adan Mohammed, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives.

The conference will bring together top executives in the manufacturing sector, high-ranking government officials, women in business from the region, agri-business, finance, information communication and technology and handcraft sector among others.

The focus will be on the creation of a platform for women to share ideas, identify trade tailbacks and solutions in the East African region.

According to the East African Women in Business Platform (EAWIB) platform coordinator, Nancy Gitonga, the conference is keen on making sure that no less than 30 women-led businesses are abetted to negotiate for contracts with buyers, during the conference.

This is in alignment with a process that has already recognized the business and pre-matched them to the ideal buyer.

Furthermore, the forum will allow women to engage the government, private sector and development agencies and champion for an environment that promotes women’s participation in trade.

“Having the right conversations with the right people makes all the difference. This conference is a first step in the right direction. It is our plan that strategic partnerships are formed here, that fruitful dialogue to identify key trade bottlenecks and solutions and commitment to improving the environment for women enterprises to thrive are conceived during the event,” commented the TradeMark East Africa, Senior Director, Business Competitiveness, Lisa Karanja.

“We are committed to building the capacity of at least 300,000 women in the next 5 years, and the discussions taking place at the conference are important and will inform our direction,” she added.

Women in cross-border trading, export business, manufacturing, home décor, apparels among others will set up a marketplace where buyers can view their products.

The forum is organized by the EAWIB with support from TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) with sponsorship from the Barclays Bank of Kenya.