A bit of some background
MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) form 80-90% of the companies and makeup 60% of employers globally. This means small businesses are the backbone of economies globally. Despite that truth, they have fewer resources than large companies to weather crises and economic transitions. They form the largest employers of women and young people and research has shown that women-owned businesses are most likely to be MSMEs.
Sadly MSMEs have smaller safety nets to fall on. This makes it hard for them to pivot during economic transitions. So pandemics like COVID have massive effects like loss of jobs and closure, especially for contact-based businesses like tourism, food services, art and culture and retail because of recommended practices like #StayAtHome and #SocialDistancing.
One way to help these small businesses build resilience is by helping them to digitalise their businesses #GoDigital. What used to be a “maybe” is now a “must”. We thought digital is for the future, but it is NOW.
Digitalisation does not have to be complicated at all and is inclusive. There is no business too small to be represented online. Small businesses that are online can be capacitated and supported to participate in international trade keeping them in business.
Enter in The Digital Champions of small businesses initiative
On 25 June 2021, @WorldTradeOrganisation (WTO) MSME Informal Working Group, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and International Trade Centre (ITC) launched the Digital Champions for Small Businesses Initiative – a joint initiative to help small businesses go digital. It provided an opportunity for industry associations, chambers of commerce and NGOs with a MSMEs and digitalization focus from around the world to feature new initiatives and tools to bring MSMEs into the digital economy, support cyber security, improve digital infrastructure, and provide educational tools.
The links>>
a) Launch of the Digital Champions for Small Businesses Initiative.
b) The call for proposals
We submitted The Tech-Driven Entrepreneur under the to train 2500 small businesses in Digital Marketing over the stipulated 6months. Our proposal won, announced on the 2nd of December 2021 in Geneva Switzerland.
The Announcement links >>
a) WTO Digital Championship – December 2, 2021 webinar
b) Website announcement.
Our acceptance link>> Award Winner Tofara Online
The Award
With the support in resources from our partners World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and International Trade Centre (ITC) sponsored by Google and ZOOM we will train 2500 small businesses Digital Marketing with the opportunity to share their stories in the global partners’ networks and have access to resources for international trade participation.
We get the opportunity to train 2500 MSME’s in Digital Marketing , Lean Digital Transformation , Export Marketing Strategy, Introduction to E-commerce and more. This will be done over a 6 months period from January 2022. The main goals are to build capacity in SMEs to :
* Be COVID resilient,
* Enable them to participate in international trade – generating foreign currency,
* Participate in the digital economy so they can more than just survive through e-commerce which makes them boundariless.
* Leverage on digital marketing to trade internationally without leaving their native country.
Interested? What next?
Register your interest in the program. A link to the WhatsApp group and the option to immediately register for training will appear after you have successfully filled the form. If you have any challenges registering please get in touch using the options >>here
