Women Traders to Unveil SMEs Business Incubators

3 June 2011

Africa Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) Zambia Chapter will unveil the business incubator for local Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) at the forthcoming African Growth and opportunity Act (AGOA) forum in Lusaka next week.

AWEP chairperson Christine Mulundika said the AWEP Business Incubator would provide support services and resources to women entrepreneurs to facilitate the growth of their enterprises, facilitate competitiveness and boost export capacity in the region and beyond.

Business incubators help emerging growth companies survive and grow during the start-up period when they are most vulnerable

She said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that Zambia had been honoured to become the first Chapter of AWEP Business Incubators from among the 37 eligible AGOA African member states.

“AWEP aims to empower African women entrepreneurs to become part of the national and global business network by increasing opportunities for women to use the AGOA framework,” she said.

AWEP is a special programme affiliated to AGOA which was created at the ninth AGOA forum held in Washington and boosted by the 2010 United States/Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation forum.

AWEP Director Sylvia Banda said the business incubators would create a platform for its members to increase business linkages with the United States (USA).

She urged the business women community to ensure that their products are aimed at increasing trade between Zambia and the USA and not just to showcase the works.

“Work with Zambians in the Diaspora, do not take them as competitors but as business partners for they are the people who are your market, this result in the effective increase of trade thus empowering you,” she said.

She said the AGOA forum would not only provide market opportunities but help AWEP members emerge into potential exporters which needed to be supported by improved quality and competitiveness.

AWEP coordinator with the USA Department of State Joan Wadelton said America would not revise the AGOA standards but offer assistance on how best Zambian exporters and all AGOA eligible countries would easily access the market.

“All you need to do is ensure that the quality of the product to be exported is of good quality to meet the AGOA standards,” she said.

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