Online Capacity Development Opportunity for Women and Youth Focused SMEs during the Pandemic

Online Capacity Development Opportunity for Women and Youth Focused SMEs during the Pandemic

June 23, 2021 0 comment

Studies, including one done by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), indicate that women and youth make up the biggest labour force in Africa.

In the world of business, if we are to go by the ILO report, focusing on Uganda for instance, women make up 52.5% of the labour force and “are an important pool of potential talent to help Uganda meet its development goals, especially in the area of entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) growth”.

Despite their numbers, women and youth are not the faces of business successes. Instead, they encounter many challenges in business and formal employment.

” Women face more challenges than men in starting, managing and growing their enterprises as they are more likely to be impeded by a lack of the necessary capacities, skills and resources,” reads part of the report.

The same challenges are faced by youth regardless of their gender. And yet, if Africa is to develop, women and youth must be at the centre of capacity building programs of the most relevant kind.

Developing global Small, and Medium Enterprises, (SMEs), where Africa really stands a chance to transform societies, is under rapid transformations driven by emerging innovations and technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic engineering and automation. What worked yesterday, may no longer work tomorrow, or even today. The key then lies in being able to discern what are the important skills, capabilities or products and services to sell.

As a company that strives to change the narrative of Africa, Human Capital International (HCI) has put together an amazing two- days dialogue that seeks to address the challenges that women and youth in business face, particularly in this digital economy.

The dialogue is informed by requests by SMEs operators and employees who attended the February 25th, 2021 3rd Strategic Leaders’ Summit theme: “Agribusiness, SMEs and Digital Innovation within the African Continental Free Trade Area.”

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The main objective of the annual Summit is to champion stimulating public–private-led discussions that lead to best practices and innovation-oriented dialogue to spur growth within the SME sector in the new digital economy.

In the virtual event organised by Human Capital International and hosted at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel, participants agreed on the need to regroup to deepen understanding and appreciation of five key areas and explore deeper, the creation of appropriate SMEs innovations and technology-based climate that will help spur growth and digitalization of SMEs in the region.

These five main areas are Women-focused SMEs, market linkages and Technology options, Agribusiness, Finance and Investment Options, Unpacking the Taxes and Tariffs in the Intercontinental Free Trade, Women-Led SMEs, Value-Based Systems Management, and Implications for Intercontinental Trade and The African Youth – New Entrepreneurship Paradigms and Cultural Development.

As a company, we have assembled a team of experts for a two-day dialogue to deepen the understanding of participants in these five key thematic areas. Participants will learn how to harness the potential of the intercontinental market linkages and leverage the latest innovations, technology and best practices to build prosperity while conserving the environment for future generations.

“It is businesses that will change Africa and that is why this dialogue is important. All our experts are ready and you need to sign up to participate” Ms. Shenina Aheebwa, the Country Manager of Human Capital International has said.

The dialogue will take place from June 29^thto 30th, 2021. The dialogue will achieve the following:

Identify how to harness the potential of SMEs to create jobs and combat poverty in Africa, hear about the latest innovations and technology options to ignite SMEs for growth, share strategies for SMEs and Financial Institutions to form partnerships that transcend boundaries, and demonstrate the need for the development of new entrepreneurial paradigms among the youth in the Digital Economy.

Register here and book your place at this very important sustainable SMEs-focused dialogue