Alliance activity spotlights and lessons learned
The primary goal of the Alliance is to significantly grow the number of cross-border online micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sellers and their transactions in developing nations. This series takes a closer look at some of the activities that our partners have carried out under the Alliance to align with this goal. We look at the design of the activity, the outcomes and impacts, challenges to implementation, lessons learned, and recommendations to overcome these challenges.
On December 7, 2023, the eTrade Alliance held a solutioning session: Acelerando Soluciones de Comercio Electrónico en Centroamérica (Accelerating Solutions for Ecommerce in Central America) at the Guatemalan Exporters Association (AGEXPORT) in Guatemala City. The goal of the workshop was to gather eTrade Alliance partners with projects in Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) to present the details of their activities to each other and assess synergies across workstreams to formulate opportunities for collaboration. You can find a readout of the event in more detail here.
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In September 2023, USAID, the eTrade Alliance, the eCommerce Institute, and AmCham Kenya kicked off eCommerce Day Africa, where e-commerce MSMEs and stakeholders across Kenya and greater Africa gathered to promote the e-commerce ecosystem. The event included a variety of programs, such as panels, workshops, prized competitions, and networking opportunities to empower MSMEs to harness e-commerce resources. The highlights, impacts, and lessons learned can be found here.
The DHL Go Global program, a collaborative effort between The Asia Foundation and DHL Express Malaysia and Brunei, was established with the goal of enhancing the capabilities of women entrepreneurs in the field of e-commerce. This initiative provided customized support and training to empower participants with the necessary skills and resources for active involvement in the digital economy and cross-border trade. You can access the report by clicking here.
Through this program, Mastercard, Westpac, and ygap came together to upgrade Westpac’s existing electronic payments security system and to train 30 Fijian women-owned MSMEs/entrepreneurs on e-payments and a range of e-commerce topics/skills tailored to SME needs. It enabled women-owned Fijian MSMEs to effectively transition to eCommerce platforms, understand and improve their online marketing strategies, and drive more customers to their products. The report can be seen here.
The eCommerce Institute’s scholarship program for women-led MSMEs provides training on ecommerce topics, with varying course levels and content based on the participant’s ecommerce readiness, from beginner to advanced. Here, we look at one of their ecommerce training programs for women entrepreneurs which took place in Latin America in 2020 and 2021.
The eTrade Alliance has hosted a series of Digital Trade Policy Dialogues in different regions across the developing world. The events convene top public officials, leaders of industry associations and the private sector, as well as Alliance partners, with the goal to better local enabling environments for MSMEs in ecommerce. The highlights and outcomes of past Dialogues from 2020 - 2022 are showcased here.
In late 2021, UPS launched their Women Exporters Program trainings in Brazil, training 92 women-led MSMEs through 5 different modules. These MSMEs, connected via the Global Trade Hub in Brazil which is funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office. The participating MSMEs were from a variety of sectors, including textiles, handicrafts, and processed foods. The activity spotlight can be reviewed here.
The goal of this project was to explore the usefulness of the approach and database for understanding the skills gaps and mismatches and skills needs in the Nigerian workforce for the digital era. The pilot involved an online, 60-question of a 30-minute survey, TalentPrint’s Talent Genome© competency model, developed by PeopleTree Group. The activity spotlight can be reviewed here.
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