On 9 March, the SheTrades Mauritius Hub was officially launched by the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Mauritius, in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the UK Government, at Le Meridien Hotel and Resorts, Pointe aux Piments, where Mrs Kobita Jugnauth graced the event as Chief Guest. The SheTrades Mauritius Hub aims to support women entrepreneurs through building sector-specific skills and increasing their access to international markets.
The welcome remarks were delivered by the Mauritius Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr the Honourable Renganaden Padayachy, who noted: “Today is a landmark event that will bring up our women entrepreneurs to the international stage. I would like to extend my most sincere appreciation to our Chief Guest, Mrs Kobita Jugnauth, Ambassador for this initiative, for being a champion for women empowerment for this endeavour. This launch wouldn’t have possible with the invaluable support of the ITC and the British Government. Through the signing of this MOU, the SheTrades platform will help women entrepreneurs to expand and to reach international markets, and will promote economic empowerment by providing them with personal access to training, networking opportunities, advocacy, and data. This is key in achieving our objective because Mauritian women deserve all of our respect and support. The very least we can do to thank them for what they do for our country and for our people.”
During his speech, he referred to key statistics on gender equality, noting that, as the World Bank published its 2022 Women Business and the Law index rating 190 countries on factors such as Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension, Mauritius has ranked first in Africa and 41st in the world. He noted that this was made possible by developments such as the Equal Opportunities Act, the National Gender Policy, and several schemes providing easy finance to women entrepreneurs. He emphasised that 59% of beneficiaries of all schemes provided by SME Mauritius were women led entrepreneurs and women shareholders. Moreover, he highlighted that of the 2,517 young graduates who have benefitted from the SME employment scheme, 70% are women while of the 1,157 graduates in placement with SMEs around the island, 67% are women.
For her part, H. E. Charlotte Pierre, British High Commissioner to Mauritius said, “The UK is proud to have supported Mauritius’ trade and gender equality efforts over the past few years, including through the She Trades Commonwealth Programme, a UK funded Commonwealth-wide initiative that has paved the way for increased economic growth and job creation by helping hundreds of female-owned businesses access international trade opportunities. By launching the SheTrades Hub in Mauritius today, we mark a new chapter in the UK-Mauritius partnership, a vital opportunity that will help provide Mauritian women the right skills and networks to unlock their full potential. As Mauritius expands its trade exports, the UK Government, in partnership with the Economic Development Board and the International Trade Centre, remains committed to championing trade policies and programmes that advance women’s economic empowerment.”
She went on to add that, with many female entrepreneurs having a profound desire to shape their country’s economic future, SheTrades is expected to play a critical role in providing the right skills. She noted that promoting and supporting female entrepreneurship must remain a priority for all stakeholders, especially as new global challenges arise, and to ensure that Mauritian women can continue to lead innovative businesses and inspire their communities.
“This is not simply an issue of equality – it also makes good economic sense. The future is bright for women and the future is right for our leadership,” she concluded.
Speaking next, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director at the ITC, noted: “This is my first visit to Mauritius, known as the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. As a Jamaican, and someone raised in a small island developing state, Mauritius is for me, and so many others, an inspiration. Mauritius has been able to diversify its export platform to create not just one world class export platform, tourism, but so many others as well, even as so many other countries have struggled to involve the private sector in development, and especially their SMEs. In another area, that of women empowerment, achieving a perfect score in equal pay indicator and nearly 85% in the World Bank Workplace Rights indicator are well known statistics on this country. The launch of SheTrades in Mauritius could not have come at more opportune time in a global landscape marked by COVID and conflict. Even as COVID is hopefully receding into the distance, the economic damage from COVID is still being assessed and we know full well how much Mauritius suffered and how much resilience was required to rebuild your tourism sector. In times of crisis, we need not only greater ambition, but also much bolder collective action. At ITC, this is exactly what we are seeing from the Government of Mauritius.”
She went ahead to give a snapshot of the activities that had already taken place. First, she noted that, following the launch of strategy in September 2022, 11 representatives came for a week long trainer of trainers programme. She mentioned that the SheTrades Hub Focal Points received training on export-readiness, visual communication, inclusive supply chains, and strategies to foster private sector partnerships. Next, in January, ITC launched the SheTrades Mauritius project to strengthen the business ecosystem through the launch of the hub and building sector specific skills of young graduates. In February, in partnership with the EDB, SheTrades hosted a three-day workshop in textiles and apparel, where women entrepreneurs learnt key skills in branding, market access and logistics, among others. She lauded the UK Government for their support and emphasised that women entrepreneurs were undertaking self-assessment across 84 indicators to indicate the areas where they were doing well and more importantly, where they could do better.
“Today, we have SheTrades individuals in 52 developed and developing countries, including gender champions like Mauritius. ITC’s partnership has gone beyond women’s economic empowerment and the SheTrades hub in Mauritius, where we would like to commend Mauritius for launching its national export strategy and for launching the trade obstacles alert mechanism and national strategy and action plan for women entrepreneurship development. With the official launch of the SheTrades hub in Mauritius, ITC is excited to build on our already excellent partnership with Mauritius to deliver more targeted support to women entrepreneurs in the country. We are also keen to support institutional strengthening where our in-house e-commerce and sector experts stand ready to help women become successful in the digital economy. For my part, I am a passionate and committed advocate of gender responsive public procurement, which is not a terribly exciting area, but is enormous in scope. Governments spend 11 trillion dollars each year of which less than 1% goes to women led businesses. Can you imagine the potential of increasing this percentage a little bit more, especially in Mauritius which has such an extraordinary story of private-sector led growth?,” she concluded, most thought provokingly.
Delivering the keynote address, Kobita Jugnauth mentioned that there were 75 local women entrepreneurs registered on the SheTrades platform and a number of initiatives had already been taken such as the trainer of trainers programme and workshops for women in apparel and non-apparel sectors. Further, numerous other activities were already scheduled for this year.
At a broader level, she noted that the SheTrades initiative is all about helping local women entrepreneurs to be connected to the world, and broadening the horizons and circle of opportunities for them. She accordingly urged women entrepreneurs to leverage the opportunities offered by the SheTrades platform on the understanding that “each woman entrepreneur who can benefit from SheTrades platform is a woman who can open new markets and new opportunities, sell and spread her ideas, and support her community and family.”
She emphasised, “There is need for a close partnership between the public and private sector to get women to work equally, and also for close collaboration with agencies like ITC so women can continue to thrive. May you continue to shine your light as a beacon of hope and challenge the remnants of inequality.”
Later, speaking on the sidelines of the event, Kobita Jugnauth added, “I got involved in this initiative starting with COVID. When I went around the country, I met many local women entrepreneurs who were stripped of their livelihoods from one day to the next because there were no tourists, international or local. I witnessed their struggle on a day to day basis. They had the skills and knowledge but access to market was limited, basically they only had access to the local market. The whole idea came about to open their avenues on a regional and global scale and this is how we decided upon and worked for joining the SheTrades initiative.”
The first half of the event concluded with the signature of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) – the first between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the ITC, with the signatories being H. E. Charlotte Pierre and Ms Pamela Coke Hamilton respectively. This MoU marks the engagement of the FCDO to finance ITC’s upcoming projects.
The second and last MoU of the event was signed between the EDB and the ITC, with Mr Ken Poonoosamy representing the former as its Chief Executive Officer while Ms Pamela Coke Hamilton again signed on behalf of the ITC. This agreement signals the intent of both parties to work together to implement the SheTrades Hub and help it scale up for the benefit of women entrepreneurs.
Following the signature of the MOUs, two panel sessions were held to discuss some of the issues and challenges facing women who trade in goods and services.
The first panel, moderated by Priscilla Balgobin-Bhoyrul, Senior Partner at Dentons, focused on exporting services beyond borders and women empowerment. Priscilla was joined by Dr Jyoti Jeetun, Group CEO of Mont Choisy Group, Helene Echevin, CEO of C-Care Group and Nishi Kichenin, Group CEO of JurisTax Holdings Ltd, to discuss some of the opportunities and barriers facing women in the services sector. Issues addressed in the discussion included how women can endeavour to strike the right balance between family and professional commitments, whether women address challenges in a different way when it comes to EQ, and how women leaders can play a role in supporting other women on their way up the career ladder.
The second panel, which addressed how Mauritian women entrepreneurs can expand their global footprint, which was moderated by Namita Jagarnath Hardowar, President of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Panellists Sharon Ramdenee, CEO of Agiliss, Sharanaz Subratty, Managing Director at Casting World Ltd and Jacqueline Sauzier, Secretary General of the Mauritius Chamber of Agriculture, shared some of their experiences and challenges faced, and described some of the institutions and mechanisms that were able to support them on their journeys.
About SheTrades
In 2015, consultations with global thought leaders revealed persisting barriers between key actors and the building blocks of women’s enterprise development: gender-disaggregated research, inclusive policy, skills development, access to markets and finance. It was agreed that women’s economic empowerment is not a matter for government policy, the private sector, or society alone. We all have critical roles to play. This is why the International Trade Centre launched the SheTrades Initiative, to provide a multi-stakeholder and multidimensional approach to accelerate global progress in achieving women’s economic empowerment.
Since then, SheTrades has been working to connect millions of women entrepreneurs to markets while promoting their full participation in international trade. Based within the Division of Sustainable and Inclusive Trade of the International Trade Centre, we are currently present in 30 countries across Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. The initiative is a proud contributor to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Read more about SheTrades here: https://www.shetrades.com
