On 29 and 30 September 2022, UTICA’s headquarters in Tunis hosted the “COMESA Tunisia Business Women Days” — an event of great importance for African women’s entrepreneurship, yet one that went almost unnoticed by the general public. A look back at these two days and the issues they raised.
What were the PEMA II and AACA projects aiming for?
These two days sealed an agreement between UTICA (the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts) and the COMESA Business Council (CBC), in the service of Tunisian and African women entrepreneurs. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ Tunisia, in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and CEPEX, the PEMA II (“Promotion of export activities to new markets in sub-Saharan Africa”) and AACA (“Support for Trade Agreements with Africa”) projects aim to support Tunisian and African women in their export activities, within the framework of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) agreement.
The international conference held on this occasion set out in particular to highlight the role of women in trade in Africa, and to ensure networking among African women entrepreneurs from the COMESA region by informing them of financing and investment opportunities and of programmes dedicated to gender. PEMA II thus presented 80 Tunisian businesses led by women, spread across four clusters: crafts and cosmetics, agrifood-agriculture, services, and information and communication technologies.
Who took part in the COMESA Tunisia Business Women Days?
A delegation of 12 women from COMFWB (COMESA Federation of Women in Business) attended the conference, having taken part the day before in the COMFWB summit for North Africa. Ms Leila Belkhiria Jabeur, president of the CNFCE (the National Chamber of Women Business Leaders) and president of the COMFWB chapter for the North Africa sub-region, declared on this occasion:
She was referring in particular to plans for a North African forum and trade fair, envisaged in Tunis for October 2023 as part of COMFWB’s annual tradition — an announcement made at this 2022 conference, of which we have no verifiable confirmation, to date, that it actually took place.
Which subjects were covered during the conference?
High-level expert panellists led panels on: COMESA’s record and future prospects, the ecosystem to be built to promote women’s entrepreneurship in the COMESA zone, women united for successful exporting, and the business environment for women in Africa.
What did the B2B session of 30 September bring?
More than 70 women entrepreneurs, from the agrifood, crafts, creative cultures, cosmetics, services, training, consulting, international networking and textile sectors, came together for this B2B session. They came from Tunisia, Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan, Libya, Eswatini, Kenya, Eritrea and Malawi, alongside representatives from Germany and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
To go deeper into the subject of women’s entrepreneurship in Tunisia, our article Women Entrepreneurs: 5 Essential Challenges to Give Your Business a Boost details the concrete obstacles encountered day to day, and the portrait of Fatma Rekik illustrates that path through a real-life trajectory.
