Women SMEs tap into new market as Uganda loses AGOA

Women SMEs under the African Women Agribusiness Network (AWAN) with support from the Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFOC) are set to benefit from a pre-buyer mission Uganda project aimed at preparing women-led SMEs and startups to access new international markets away from African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) challenges.

The project dubbed Women Export Acceleration Programme (WEAP), will through the provision of export readiness support services, increase the participation of women entrepreneurs in export markets.

“Uganda is losing some markets, especially AGOA, we have lost that huge market. By 2023, Uganda had exported to the U.S about 8.2 million dollars but we have lost all that,” Ms Joyce Atuhaire, the country director AWAN in Kampala on Thursday.

She added: “As AWAN, we want to tap into new markets and new roots to make sure that women can access formal markets that are very inclusive.”

Their partnership with TFOC she said will help to counter these challenges like lack of information, and lack of access to markets and finance.

Mr Olivier Musafiri, the Project Manager of Africa with TFOC, said their mission is to empower small and medium enterprises to export to the international market.

“Market access is the final stage of the process but to get there, you need to be prepared and connected. We shall start with 22 modules including; packaging, labeling, pricing and the marketing strategy among others,” he said.

The project he says does not only open markets in Canada but also different parts of the world.  

The project will provide access to export information and a platform for women to showcase their products in Canada in May this year.

100 women-led SMEs will receive the training to be export-ready but only 15 will travel to Canada for an expo.