THROUGH THE SHETRADES PROGRAM

UGANDA Women are essential to the global economy and to breaking the poverty cycle. Yet, research by International Trade Centre (ITC)11 reveals only one in five exporting businesses are owned by women and there is a $300 billion financing gap for women entrepreneurs in developing countries.

To help meet this need, Opportunity International is working with UPS and ITC through the SheTrades program to deliver financial services, managerial capacity, and market linkages for women. The program launched in 2020 in Uganda, and by the end of the year had distributed loans to 2,439 women to grow their export business, doubling our target. 1,145 women have enrolled in the SheTrades platform and the program has impacted over 113,000 lives—including Jessica who was able to secure a low-interest $8,000 loan in 2020 to grow her events and decoration business with plans to open an office in a neighboring district. With the success in Uganda, we plan to scale the program to two new markets: Colombia and Ghana.