By Yusuf Odejobi
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in partnership with West Blue Consulting, United Parcel Services (UPS) and Trade Law Center (TRALAC) has unveiled a digital trade solutions platform, tagged eTradeHubs portal.
Announced at the virtual launch of the partnership, the Secretary General of ICC, John W.H. Denton AO stated that even though the Covid-19 pandemic have unequally impacted the lives and livelihoods of women business owners around the world, their partnership with UPS, TRALAC, and West Blue Consulting will level the playing field in Africa and provide women entrepreneurs with necessary resources to digitize their businesses.
The eTradeHubs portal (www.etradehubs.com) was developed by two indigenous African technology providers – Global Trade Solution (GTS) and West Blue Consulting, provides a 24/7 interface for women traders and entrepreneurs in Africa (along with their male peers) to connect and access timely and up to date information, skills and operational tools, offered by the various service providers within the supply chain.
Designed to leverage on the benefits arising from the operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the eTradeHub portal aims to reduce the time and cost of doing business by supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Africa to multinational and also expand market access and economic opportunities for women owned businesses.
The CEO and Founder of West Blue Consulting, Valentina Mintah said that the adoption of smart solutions by women in business and trade will ensure benefits such increased flexibility for women to work from home whilst raising children, improved access to global markets, networking opportunities and a significant shift of women from the informal to the formal sector.
Mintah added that she is optimistic that by lowering the entry barriers to cross border trade will allow entrepreneurs to grow their business rapidly also the informal sector will not be left out as info-graphics and videos in local African languages will be introduced to deepen inclusion and diversity.
President of UPS International Public Affairs & Sustainability, Penny Naas stated that according to research only 1 out of 5 businesses that exports is led by a woman
“At UPS, we’re moving our world forward by helping women-run businesses maximize their participation in trade through public-private partnerships that provide policy recommendations and support with knowledge sharing and building skills.
“Our partnership with the ICC, TRALAC, and West Blue Consulting will offer exporting workshops for women entrepreneurs and to advocate for enabling environments that pave the way for African women’s success.”
Executive Director TRALAC, Trudi Hartzenberg was optimistic that with the adoption of digital trade solutions for the AfCFTA, it will address many border management challenges that disproportionately impact women traders.
According to Trudi, TRALAC is very pleased to collaborate with ICC, UPS and West Blue Consulting to support digitisation of women’s businesses and also enhance their competitiveness in the AfCFTA and global markets.
The eTradeHubs portal offers exciting features which include a multi country tariff and trade information tool as well as a duty calculator. It also enables traders to process trade documentation, manage compliance, workflow and costs – all on the same platform, without the need to visit multiple regulatory agencies, entities, websites and physical offices. The platform enables enterprises to scale-up and digitize their operations by providing access to online training, webinars and workshops.
The portal currently provides country data of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and the ECOWAS sub region, with more countries and sub regions soon to be added, in line with the Digitize 5 million African SMEs initiative.
