Women to Benefit from $50m WEIDE Fund as WTO/ ITC Begins Selection Process
L – R shows: Otunba Abimbola Ogunbanjo, President, National Council, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organisation (WTO); Mr. Oscar N. Onyema, OON, Chief Executive Officer, NSE; and Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, FCIB, CON, Ex-Officio, National Council, NSE.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) are set to empower women entrepreneurs in growing their businesses by leveraging international trade and digitalisation.
The global bodies will commence the selection process of applicants for the US$50 million Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund, as the application closed on Sunday.
Beneficiary MSMEs will be selected competitively and supported to access technical assistance and grants of USD 2,000-5,000 for the Discovery track, and up to USD 30,000 for the Booster track.
According to information on the official platform for the Fund, successful candidates will be asked to provide additional documentation to support responses in their application, they will be contacted directly by the WEIDE Fund Secretariat.\
The WEIDE Fund will unlock opportunities in international trade and digital trade for women entrepreneurs by improving their access to; funds: providing grants and working with financial institutions to close the access to finance gap, skills, knowledge, and competences: providing technical assistance and access to information related to digital skills and export competitiveness.
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Other benefits of the Fund are Markets connects women to digital market platforms, networks and support services as the Fund will create more inclusive and effective business ecosystems, including leveraging partnerships with private and public sector actors.
The WEIDE Fund will be implemented in Nigeria through country-level projects, in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
The Fund is targeted at individual women-led businesses (not clusters) with exportable products and services.
The fund targets SMEs, the backbone of developing economies. Eligibility for the Fund entailed that a woman-led business must have: at least 25% owned by one or more women.
Other criteria are that “management and control lie with one or more women. At least one-third of the board of directors are women (where a board exists). A woman is a signatory to the business’s legal documents and financial accounts. Operates independently of non-women-led businesses”.
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