Empowering Women Economically is Key to Development.

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2 The Center for African Women Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) works targeting the economic empowerment of women and the Center believes that Empowering Women Economically is Key to Development. CAWEE is mainly targeting the promotion of Ethiopian women entrepreneurs, with a special focus to women exporters. The mission of CAWEE is to promote Ethiopian women entrepreneurs, with a special focus to women exporters, both existing and potential/ emerging exporters, mainly involved in Small & medium Enterprises (SMEs). CAWEE aims at creating a core group of businesswomen engaged in export activities. Accordingly, the vision of CAWEE will be to create globally competitive core women entrepreneurs class in Ethiopia. 1

3 Major Activities Areas Capacity building of Women Entrepreneurs (WEs), with a special focus to exporters, through the provision of trainings in international trade, mentoring services and provision of web-based trade information; Capacity building of women owned and managed enterprises through the provision of services in product development/service establishment, production of marketing materials; Capacity building of women owned and managed enterprises through the provision of foreign expertise support, where in this case CAWEE closely works with SharePeople of the Netherlands and the Canadian & African Business Women Alliance of Canada; Capacity building of Women Entrepreneurs Associations (WEAs) through trainings, facilitating networks and organizing exposure visits; Awareness creation, using mass media, by publicizing and documenting case studies of WEs role models, success stories and best practices; Counselling and advisory services to WEs, WEAs, and partner organizations, with a focus to enterprise development; Facilitating the promotion of domestic as well as export market for women s products like handicrafts, pottery products, textile household furnishing materials, leather products, agro-processing products, etc; Facilitating the organization and participation of National/Regional/African level trade fairs, workshops and study tours; Facilitating access to easy entry to fi nancial services - Loans Advising the WEs in producing bankable documents and consulting commercial banks on behalf of the WEs, - Guarantee Funds CAWEE has great experience in this respect in facilitating & securing guarantee fund (USD 4.2 million) from the US Embassy of Ethiopia & USAID Ethiopia Offi ce only for WEs, where in this process good number of WEs were able to secure loans, - Establishing Women s Commercial Bank of Ethiopia CAWEE is very proud that the idea of establishing women s bank came in one of the forums that the Center organized and in materializing this noble idea, the Executive Director of CAWEE is one of the promoters of the bank. The bank has the vision of empowering women economically with a special focus to WEs and also in planning to operate in all the Regions of Ethiopia, to be able to address the women of Ethiopia; Facilitating the creation and strengthening of South- South and North-South cooperation and networking among WEs and WEAs; Organizing buyers and sellers meetings; Developing and up-dating website and database on information and issues related to women s entrepreneurship development, with a focus to export; Undertaking action oriented research on issues related to women s entrepreneurship development, with a focus to export. The focus areas and target groups of CAWEE s activities are: WEs operating in SMEs (Growth Oriented Enterprises), Women Entrepreneurs Associations, Young girls and Women, Women s products that are already in export market and also those with potential for export market, Women entrepreneurs exporting their services. 2

4 1. ACCESS! ACCESS! for African Businesswomen in International Trade is a Regional technical assistance program under the Program for building African Capacity for Trade (PACT), funded by the Canada a Fund for Africa. ACCESS! Started to be operational in eleven African countries, including Ethiopia. CAWEE has been appointed as the Country Focal Point for the ACCESS! Ethiopia Program. ACCESS! targets African women entrepreneurs who have already attained a fair level of management competence and are actual, potential or emerging exporters. The initiative provides an exporter training program, a mentorship element to complement the exporter training and a web-portal, facilitating women s access to relevant export information tools and services, as well as networking opportunities. The fi rst ACCESS! phase was fi nalized between November 2006 and December Following the pilot ACCESS! phase, CAWEE was supported by the EU-Pro-invest fund to continue its capacity building support for six months. The ACCESS! pilot phase trained three national trainers abroad (one woman & two men) and so far the ACCESS! Program in Ethiopia has trained 144 trainees in International Trade, out of which 24 were men. The program has also mentored 33 companies (15 existing, 11 potential and 7 emerging women exporters). So far, the profi les of 36 companies, owned and managed by women, are featured in CAWEE s web site. Ethiopian women exporters, exporting both their products and services. Beyond promoting women in the manufacturing sector, CAWEE is also involved in the promotion of Ethiopian women exporting their services. In this respect, CAWEE worked with International Trade Center, Geneva, where the program was operational in three African countries Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia. The Trade in Services program further trained three national trainers abroad two women & one man and provided support in conducting trainings for women exporting their services. This particular project was able to train 43 participants in International Trade, with a special focus on Trade in Services, out of which eight of the trainees were men. The program also mentored 11 companies. This particular program sponsored 3 Ethiopian women entrepreneurs that export their services, in a trade mission to Canada in May Graduates of the training in Trade in Services have further organized themselves in a network, named Network of Ethiopian Women in Trade in Services. The network is working this time for its legal registration to be operational on its own. The second ACCESS! phase has started being operational, starting 2010 and expected to continue for four years, where it covers 19 African Countries, of course Ethiopia continued to be part of the program. This second phase is expected to run for the coming fi ve years, where it is again a great opportunity to 3

5 2. PACT (Program for building African Capacity for Trade) Program Partner CAWEE was also involved in capacity building of Ethiopian women exporters through product development, market promotion, preparation of marketing materials & participation in international trade shows. In a program called PACT, a country program implemented by the Ministry of Trade & Industry, where CAWEE was a joint partner, six handloom companies, all owned & managed by women, went through processes of product development, market promotion, preparations of marketing materials, for ten consecutive months and those companies participated in trade shows in Montreal and Toronto, Canada, in May 2007, which was an entry point for the companies to enter the Canada market. CAWEE also organized business award event. The event was special because it happened when Ethiopia was celebrating its Millennium and it was after that, the event was named as a Millennium Award for Women Exporters in the Handloom Sub-sector. The Millennium award was unique in that the companies were recognized and were awarded at the National Palace, by the President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, in February

6 3.Spanish NEPAD Support Apart from providing capacity building services to women owned and managed businesses, CAWEE is also involved in conducting action oriented researches. In this process, , CAWEE conducted fi ve different researches, focusing on thematic issue areas of concern, challenges that affect women in business. The fi ndings of those fi ve researches were further enriched through consultative forums that were organized by CAWEE. e). The 5th research focused on the thematic issue area The Perspectives of Women Business Owners in Trade in Services, where in the fi fth consultative forum organized, 375 participants (280 women and 95 men) took part. CAWEE has compiled the researches & consultative forums fi ndings, in a booklet form and disseminated that to all concerned ones. The fi ve research areas were: a). The 1st research focused on the thematic issue area Challenges Facing Small & Medium Enterprises Owned by Women Entrepreneurs in Selection and Acquisition of Commercial & Industrial Premises, where in the fi rst consultative forum organized, 181 participants ( 128 women and 53 men) took part. b). The 2nd research focused on the thematic issue area Women Entrepreneurs Associations in Ethiopia: Opportunities and Challenges, where in the second consultative forum organized, 225 participants (155 women and 70 men) took part. c). The 3rd research focused on the thematic issue area Challenges in Financing Women s Businesses, where in the third consultative forum organized, 260 participants( 180 women and 80 men) took part. d). The 4th research focused on the thematic issue area Barriers Faced by Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Products and Establishing Services for Export Marketing, where in the third consultative forum organized, 300 participants (210 women and 90 men) took part. 5

7 4. US Embassy in Ethiopia The effort of CAWEE in the promotion of Ethiopian women in business is further complemented by the different supports provided from the US Embassy in Ethiopia. The Women Entrepreneurs Group (WEG), an initiative of the Embassy, was established in July 2006 to address the constraints faced by growthoriented women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. WEG works to achieve its aims by strengthening women s businesses capacities, serving as a network forum and empowering women and girls through community outreach. CAWEE works as a Chair for the subcommittee of capacity building of the WEG. To facilitate fi nance to women involved in growthoriented businesses, the US Embassy, through USAID provided Loan Guarantee Fund, covering 50% of their risk. In this process of securing the loan guarantee fund, WEG and CAWEE have played a major role. With the support from the US Embassy, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ethiopia (AmCham) was established in June AmCham Ethiopia s mission is to promote twoway trade and investment relations between Ethiopia and the United States. In facilitating ting the processes, CAWEE is encouraging ng women exporters to be members of the AmCham and benefi t from the services that it provides. invited to Addis Ababa, to visit companies, owned & managed by women. The visit resulted with contracts that the buyers signed with the Ethiopian companies. Some of the companies have already started exporting to the US and quite a good number of the companies are also communicating with the buyers. CAWEE played a major facilitation work in this process. In recognition of her contributions to the promotion of women in business, the Executive Director of CAWEE, Mrs. Nigest Haile, received an award from the Department of State, United States of America, for her extraordinary contributions to the development of women-led businesses. Department of State, United States of America Nigest Haile In Recognition for her extraordinary contributions to the development of women-led businesses. With the support from the US Embassy and the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) country program, 5 known US buyers were The Center Center for African for African Women Women Economic Economic Empowerment Empowerment (CAWEE) (CAWEE) 6

8 5. Connect Ethiopia CAWEE is closely working with Connect Ethiopia, Irish based network of business people, which has shown interest to closely work with Ethiopian women exporters involved in manufacturing as well as in services, focusing on establishing market link with Ireland. In this process, CAWEE prepared profi les of 30 companies, owned and managed by women. The whole purpose of this exercise is aimed at, matchmaking and creating business contact with the Irish counterparts. Delegations of business people came from Ireland, in 2008 & 2009, where it was an opportunity for possible match making and creating networks with the Irish counter parts. For 2010 and beyond, CAWEE jointly working with Connect Ethiopia has planned to implement joint activities, targeting building the capacities of women exporters and facilitating export market to Ireland. 6. SharePeople Share-People is a non-profi t organization based in the Netherlands that works to match private-sector enterprises from developing countries with relevant experts from the Netherlands to provide consulting on business development and marketing as well contribute to local capacity building. CAWEE has been working to link local companies with the Share- People Program. It is encouraging that some companies have already started benefi ting communicating with the concerned ones. We encourage the rest of you interested, to explore more on that and benefi t from the services that they are providing. 7. Canadian and African Business Women Alliance (CAABWA) CAWEE closely works with the CAABWA in support through sending Canadian interns. Until December 2009, CAABWA was able to send 5 interns to CAWEE, where those interns were very instrumental in supporting the activities of CAWEE and also closely working with women owned and managed companies. 8. The Establishment of the First Women s Bank of Ethiopia The idea of establishing women s commercial bank in Ethiopia came as an idea, when CAWEE was organizing a consultative forum, September Groups of women participating in that forum continued discussing on it and after relatively, a yearlong deliberation, a group of successful business and professional women have joined hands to work on the establishment of the fi rst women s bank in Ethiopia known as ENAT Bank. ENAT Bank is a commercial bank that will engage in the mobilization of various forms of savings, the provision of loans and international banking services. Accordingly, ENAT Bank will aim to maximize the profi t of its shareholders through the provision of services to women and men clients at its urban and rural branches. What makes ENAT Bank different from other banks in Ethiopia will be its commitment to a valued social goal of women s economic empowerment. Hence two of the major goals of ENAT Bank include the development and expansion of a dynamic private sector and the creation of new and inclusive fi nancial institution that has a genderaware principle of operation. The Executive Director of CAWEE, being one of the promoters of the bank, is playing an active role in the establishment of the bank. 7

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