Panel Discussion 8: How can we unlock the potential for women to trade sustainably

Moderator: Yavi Madurai; Executive Director- The Pan African Business Women’s Association

Panelists:

Phyllis Mwangi; CEO -Edge Consult Ltd

Susan Baka; Regional Trade Representative (Ontario)- Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada

Caspar Pedo; Head of Region, East, and Central Africa -Fairtrade Africa

Panel Discussion :

Yavi opened the session by stating that women have the potential to scale development by changing the potential of business as they impact the society around them. Addressing women’s issues was key to making a change in the region. Her organization PABWA was keen on activating the potential of women and trade within the possibilities set out in the AfCFTA. The panelists then introduced themselves starting with Phyllis who is an entrepreneur and consultant. Susan is a trade facilitator and adviser based in Canada while Casper Pedo is an entrepreneur and development practitioner.

Yavi first asked the panel what they would want to change for women traders in Africa. Susan acknowledged that women in Africa were the backbone of the economy. She called for the removal of impediments in policies to accommodate women, especially in cross-border trade. Trading policies across the board needed to include gender sensitivity training across the board. Caspar would want to change the cultural limitations that push women out of leadership and decision-making. He also noted that this locked them out of monetization because they did not own land or assets in most cases. He encouraged a shift through active participation in the process. Phyllis spoke of the boundaries that women experience in cross-border trade, especially in small-scale trade. The harassment was also more in physical transactions because of the lack of digitization. Shipping would also help to eliminate harassment and discrimination issues.

Casper described the concept of Fairtrade supporting women through their CSR and other engagements. The Fairtrade standards encourage organizations in their system to be more democratic and inclusive in that they create an advantage in the supply chain. He explained the determination of Fairtrade to appreciate women according to the value they provide in the chain of production. He explained that women are engaged in the process so that women could become more of the focus area in the trade, he noted that only about 25% of women were in leadership while almost 60% were involved in production.

Susan then shared how her two projects are impacting women in the continent. The first is Women in Trade for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth. It aims to increase the representation of women in leadership and increase gender equality. They train trade support institutions in the continent to promote gender-sensitive practices. Establishing commercial relationships will be one of the long-term benefits the women will receive.

The second project is called Making Trade work for Women in SubSahara Africa. It seeks to help women-led exporters with support in their services. Susan answered Caspar’s question on the presence of these organizations in the continent by stating that 14 countries were participants. She also encouraged collaborations that would enhance two-way trade and investments. Susan also mentioned that Canada wanted to strengthen trade between Canada and Africa so that the two could benefit from Africa’s expansive human resources and Africa could benefit as well. Yavi supported these sentiments as trade would end reliance on aid.

Phyllis spoke about overcoming the challenges of trade for women in Africa. Women make up 58% of self-employed people in Africa. The main challenge is that the women do not own most of these businesses and they often work at a lower rank. Another category is engaged in B2C types of businesses where the women engage the customer directly. The smallest bracket engages in the private sector. Women mentorship programs help overcome some of these challenges by encouraging record-keeping and audited accounts to access funding. Phyllis suggested the adoption of mobile banking so that financial transactions could be traced and documented. She was not convinced about the effects of organizations whose impact was not fully felt at the grassroots as their effects were only demonstrable on paper.

Casper spoke of the countries that are embracing open borders and opening up opportunities in trade. He encouraged women to come in at this stage by promoting their ability to engage at this level. He suggested promotion from the level of the cooperative to assist women to take up more leadership and ownership position. He answered a question on the high cost of certification by saying that if the market was readily available, then the costs of certification would be offset. Yavi also spoke of promoting excellence as a way of attracting investors and partners to create avenues for scaling.

Phyllis suggested several reasons why companies would do better if they engaged more women. The first was that women's inclusion was a key indicator of alignment with the SDGs. Research showed that more involvement of women leads to reduced corruption practices. She also spoke of the improvement of society as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility. Many women-led businesses go back to the grassroots and engage in social impact businesses.

Casper concluded his contribution by encouraging everyone to engage women in recognition of the effort they invest and the potential they use. Susan encouraged women to come together in networking so that these networks could make lasting change. Phyllis wound up the session by encouraging Africans to own the AI that was going to change the continent. Yavi ended by emphasizing Susan’s sentiments that we need more trade and not aid.

Watch this panel of great women here https://youtu.be/iuNnr9JrW9Q