Women lead millions of businesses worldwide, yet too many remain excluded from global value chains. Yesterday in Zurich, ITC SheTrades accepted the Decision-Making & Value Chain Award at the FE MALE Think Tank Biennial & Award 2026. 🎉 We are grateful for this recognition of our work on gender-responsive public procurement and inclusive supply chains. Congrats to fellow awardees IKEA and iGravity! #SheTrades | #WomenInTrade | #ThisWeekAtITC

A first for the SheTrades Caribbean Hub: 15 women entrepreneurs are part of our first regional trade delegation to the UK. Day 1: visits with logistics and distribution partners buyer meetings for agrifood and beauty brands. Next: B2B meetings in Bristol and Birmingham. #SheTrades | #ThisWeekAtITC | @Caribank | @FCDOGovUK | @DHC_London | @UKinCaribbean | @ITCnews

#ThisWeekAtITC, 8 Kenyan women-led businesses exhibited at Source Fashion in London. From ethically sourced jewellery to handwoven kiondos and upcycled denim bags and bucket hats, their collections drew buyer interest across the fair. Delivered through a UK-funded project. #SourceFashion2026 | #SheTrades | #GofarGoTogether

📍 Nairobi 29 women-led businesses took part in a two-day workshop on packaging, branding and barcoding for export. Selected businesses will now receive one-to-one coaching from an ITC packaging expert to refine their packaging designs for buyers. #ThisWeekAtITC | #WomensEntrepreneurshipDay | #Kenya | #WomenInTrade | #GoFarGoTogether @ITCnews | @UKinKenya | @FCDOGovUK

📍 Maputo e Manica Mais de 40 empresas lideradas por mulheres em Moçambique participaram numa formação de dois dias sobre embalagem, marca e códigos de barras para exportação. Agora irão receber acompanhamento individual de uma especialista do ITC em embalagens para aperfeiçoar o design das suas embalagens para os compradores. Realizado em parceria com o IPEME e a Câmara de Comércio de Moçambique #ThisWeekAtITC | #WomensEntrepreneurshipDay | #WomenInTrade | #Moçambique @ITCnews | @ipemeMoz | @FCDOGovUK | @UKinMozambique

Day 6:#UGCoffee at #MCF25 We spent the day in Liverpool at @covoya_coffee. These guys are true East Africans. They have a rich heritage & have been consistent buyers of our specialty Arabica for years!!!! They source from us in Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda & Burundi. The business started in 1856 and set up a coffee farm in Kenya in the early 20th century. Phil Schluter who runs the business is as proudly Kenyan as they come. Ross who is in charge of their e-commerce & marketing is a “real” Ugandan, Nile Special, Nyege Nyege & all. Steve, the one responsible for sourcing Ugandan coffee has tracked the gorillas in Bwindi. Their business is part of @Olam which is a major coffee buyer in Uganda. These guys are us. They believe in the promise of the Ugandan coffee journey. The visit to their set up was enlightening. A session in how to get your coffee bought. They taught us to “never sell coffee, build relationships” & the sales will take care of themselves. It was a masterclass in the nuances that drive coffee buyer decisions in the commercials & specialty coffee markets. We learnt the importance of unique branding, consistency of quality & availability of crop as key business drivers. And then where in the coffee value chain we can get the most return for investment. In our case as producers it is at the point of cherry picking & post harvest handling. This is where the buck has the most bang. Price is not a strategy. In between the lines of thier presentation was a constant reminder to manage risk or lose money & it could be a lot of it. Also to be very careful about all the new processes of bean handling. Start small & get it right. To never fear to imitate the competition. Why reinvent the wheel?🤔🤣 Even if I have not signed contracts, I have walked away with clarity on what a workable business model should look like. All because the @UKinUganda made it possible through the UK Trade Partnership programme, implemented by @ITCnews & funded by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. #UKTP #ITC #GoFartherTogether #ThisWeekAtITC

Day 4:#UGCoffee at #MCF25 The second day of the festival forced me to rethink. And here is why. But first, the happiest moment. We had a great cupping session. This is when professional baristas sample the profile of your coffee. The @RugyeyoFarmLtd coffee was the only robusta on the table. There were coffees from over 19 origins, all of them Arabicas. Ours was the mystery. It achieved its effect. It shocked the palate. As we wanted it to. Each one of the baristas tasted it twice to figure out what it was. And we just smiled. Our point had been made. It is a clean robusta that can pass for a mild arabica. It didn’t have that bitter taste & corrosive flavor that needs sugar to soften the effect. It can be taken straight. Now I have to review how we position in the market. Might make more sense to front our flavor & say nothing about the fact that it is a robusta. It will be an easier sale than going against the negative perception of canephora. Just focus on the profile & let the coffee heads enjoy a good taste. So a potential partner took me on the side & whispered that he wants to look at including it in his imports & market it to hotels looking to boosting their arabica espresso brews. This, if nothing else has validated our work. Justifies the support from the UK Trade Partnership program implemented by the @ITCnews with funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth& Development Office. That is how we are here. We can #GoFarTogether #ThisWeekAtITC #UKTP #ITC @UKinUganda

Day 3: #UGCoffee at #MCF25 ‼️ LONG POST ALERT‼️ This was actually the first day of the #ManchesterCoffeeFestival2025. It started in the early evening at 4 PM & was a B2B affair of just us coffee heads. The perfect setting to do business. And we did. But first we went on a morning walkabout to visit some cafes. Two of them brew Ugandan arabica from Rwenzori & Buhweju. No one does any Ugandan robusta & most don’t even know we have it. So we are turning this to our advantage. Overall we are positioning Uganda as a “new” coffee origin/taste. These guys mostly know about Ethiopian, Kenyan, Rwandan, Burundi & even some Zambian. The little I saw about Ugandan coffee were mentions tiny percentage blends of other people’s coffee. The one guy who knew quite a bit, asked me which robusta was better, ours or DRC? No money for guessing what I told him. In fact I even knocked down the Indian one & said that it is the reason Italians are high on Ugandan robusta for their espressos. Then we did something typically Ugandan & it worked. We became batembeyi(street hawkers/vendors)& fanned out with flasks of our coffee to give everyone & anyone the unique experience of Ugandan coffee. It was kakuyege(guerrilla marketing) at its best, not waiting behind the counter for people to come by. It was great to see the look on their faces as the clean & fruity notes of our @RugyeyoFarmLtd anaerobic sundried natural robusta pleasantly surprised their palate. Anyway, the lesson for me is we need to invest in getting importers & roasters to experience the attributes of our coffee, the process that makes it such a wonderful taste & the narrative of who makes this coffee possible. And it is possible to do this with tech advances. We are able to do it here in Manchester as an initiative of the UKTrade Partnership program. This is implemented by the @ITCnews & funded by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. #UKTP #ITC #ThisWeekAtITC #GoFarTogether @UKinUganda

Day 1 of #UGCoffee at #MCF25 We are in Manchester for the Coffee Festival, an initiative of the UK Trade Partnership program implemented by the @ITCnews. This is funded by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. The Festival runs Friday thru to Sunday. We will start off with visits to 10 cafés/roasteries some of which already import Ugandan coffee. It is our chance to talk up the attributes of fine Ugandan robusta. Especially because they are good for long black coffees & Italian style espressos that are growing in consumer popularity. In the afternoon we set up at our stall in the exhibition hall to meet the traders. Our mission is simple. To get people here to DRINK UGANDAN COFFEE. This is where the coffee meets the palate, where we the sellers meet the buyers. We each have samples of our crop to share at the festival & from us at @RugyeyoFarmLtd it is the fermented sundried natural beans. I am supremely confident about the attributes of our coffee; * Consistent Score> 85 * Clean Flavor * Smooth & Sweet Profile * Nutty Aroma * Chocolate & Citrus Notes * Balanced Finish * Refreshing Taste With this, we can force the consumer to question all the false perceptions about robusta. We get the consumer to switch to robusta & only Uganda can come up with the quality & volume to meet demand. And it will be good money. For now, we do the work of selling. #GoFarTogether #UKTP #ITC #ThisWeekAtITC @UKinUganda and

📍Riyadh, #SaudiArabia 🇸🇦 #ThisWeekAtITC, together with @Visa and @MonshaatSA, #SheTrades brought together women entrepreneurs for a two-day workshop. Delivered in collaboration with @Lenks_Ai and Women Choice, the first day focused on evaluating the viability of business ideas, leveraging AI tools for smarter leadership and decision-making, and building partnerships to reach new markets. Participants also connected with business networks to exchange insights and explore new avenues for collaboration and growth. 🗣️Tomorrow’s session will dive into communication styles, pitching, and business planning. 🌟Were you part of the workshop? Share your biggest takeaway below! 🌟

📍Mexico City, #Mexico 🇲🇽 #ThisWeekatITC, we are delivering a two-day 'Click and Grow: Power Up Your Business Online’ workshop! On the first day, over 70 Mexican #SmallBusinesses from across sectors learned how to: 📈Develop a multi-channel strategy and build their online store with @Tiendanubemex. 🔢Sell successfully on Mercado Libre. 🤖 Use the latest #AI and digital tools to strengthen their digital marketing. Brought to you by the ITC #SheTrades and UPS Women Exporters Programme.

Check out our new mural, welcoming guests upon entry. It’s a visual take on our @ITCnews tagline: Transforming trade, changing lives. #ThisWeekAtITC

We’re kicking off #ASFW with the EU-EAC MARKUP II forum on strengthening #leather associations as key drivers of sustainable & inclusive trade in partnership with @RLSD_Africa @CBiTeastafrica Visit us at Sarit centre to meet the #MSMEs we support! #fundedbyEU #ThisWeekatITC

Are you in Nairobi? 🇰🇪 Join us at Africa Sourcing & Fashion Week from 24–26 April at Sarit Expo Centre! 17 amazing #leather businesses from #EastAfrica are showcasing under our EU-funded #MARKUPII programme. Come support local talent & learn about what we do! #ThisWeekatITC

On 13 March @ITCnews @GSMA and #Philippines co-hosted a #CSW69 side-event on driving digital inclusion, with Rt. Honorable @PScotlandCSG. ICYMI, catch the recording here and the 🧵for some takeaways. webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1s/k1… #ThisWeekatITC #CSW2025 #CSW69

📍Abuja, #Nigeria #ThisWeekatITC, we celebrated #IWD2025 💜with the first-ever HerShowcase event—a two-day experience filled with networking opportunities, a bustling marketplace, and insightful panel discussions. 🛍️ Over 100 Nigerian women-led #SmallBusinesses from the agrifood, beauty and fashion, textile and apparel, and handicrafts sectors showcased their products—connecting with Nigerian buyers from supermarkets, retail stores, and hotels. 🛒 This event was made possible through the UK Government-funded programme, in partnership with NEPC, host of the SheTrades Nigeria Hub, and UK in Nigeria. 🤝 Are you a Nigerian woman entrepreneur looking to grow your business? Register now to benefit from the SheTrades Nigeria Hub 👉tinyurl.com/mr4uz227

#ThisWeekAtITC Fiers de collaborer avec le MAE pour apporter aux diplomates malgaches des compétences clés et un programme adapté aux secteurs prioritaires, afin de renforcer le commerce et faire rayonner les entreprises 🇲🇬 à l’international. ✨ @tembo_dorothy @ADiallo_ITC

#ThisWeekAtITC I joined in #Addis, the 8th Ed. of the #AfricaBusinessForum in a panel on Technological Transformation &Innovation in Africa’s Livestock, Pharmaceuticals, & Agri-Parks. @ECA_OFFICIAL @ATPC2 @ITCnews @EUtoAU @LilySommer90 @martinrlabbe @haifabensa

#ThisWeekatITC, we wrapped up an exciting journey to #Ambiente2025! 🎉 #SheTrades proudly showcased 8 women-led businesses from Bangladesh 🇧🇩, India 🇮🇳, and Sri Lanka 🇱🇰. From home and lifestyle products to unique gift wares, they brought their best to one of the sector's biggest trade fairs, held from 7-11 February in Frankfurt, Germany. The results? New buyers, fresh business leads, and global connections that will take their businesses to the next level! 💼🌍 Brought to you by the UK goverment-funded #SheTrades programme.

With some really cool #NTFV tech startups from Ethiopia🇪🇹 Ghana🇬🇭 and Uganda🇺🇬 at the @AfricaTechSMT happening in Nairobi! Join us for day 2 tomorrow at booths 44-49!! @equbapp @farmerline @InnovexUG @asbezanet @ChapchapAfrica & @FreelanceEthio1 #ThisWeekatITC