In 29th July 2022, the CEO of Simple Decor JSC – Ms. Tran Thi Huyen had the honor to meet the sponsors of SheTrades and UPS Vietnam Project and the representatives of Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE). 

SheTrades is an initiative launched by the International Trade Center (ITC)

The International Trade Center (ITC) was established in 1968 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland; ITC is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN). The ITC goal is to increase the competitiveness of businesses in developing countries in the global market, enhance economic development and contribute to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 

Find out more about the MDGs here.

However, the MDGs are all about international development goals for the year 2015; therefore, as we move forward to 2030, the UN has setted new goals called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aims to be achieved by 2030. 

Find out more about the SDGs here.

The SheTrades Initiative

To contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, in 2015, the ITC launched the SheTrades initiative with the aim to empower women to overcome the barriers that they face when growing their business. The Shetrades initiative is present in 25 countries with a network of 350 partner organizations from 65 countries, 

SheTrades helps connect millions of women entrepreneurs to trade opportunities and promote their participation in international trade. To do that, SheTrades works closely with the private sector and government to improve services and policies for women entrepreneurs, provide high quality education, create an ecosystem that allows better participants in global trade and promote gender equality. 

Learn more about the SheTrades initiative here.

In 2018, UPS and the UPS Foundation launched the Women Exporters Program aimed to strengthen women entrepreneurs’ skills for global export activities. The program was officially kicked off its partnership with ITC SheTrades in June 2018, the UPS Foundation is the sponsoring organization and the UPS the the project implementation partner.

Learn more about the Women Exporters Program here.

The SheTrades and UPS Vietnam Project aimed to enhance women entrepreneurs’ ability in Global Market.

In 2019, through the cooperation between Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE) and ITC, the project “SheTrades and UPS Vietnam” was implemented to enhance the participation of Vietnam businesswomen in the trade sector.

The project’s activities include:

• Access to Finance: Provide an “Access to Finance” training program to improve financial literacy and investment readiness of Vietnam women entrepreneurs.
• Enhance Competitiveness of Industries: Provide training and coaching services with a main focus on textile industry which includes handicrafts industry.
• Improve the capability on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)

The project has supported activities for Vietnam businesswomen to improve their ability and focus on their businesses activities, specifically:

• Over 200 women entrepreneurs trained on topics such as export strategy, packaging, e-commerce, incoterm, etc.
• Direct e-commerce training for 15 businesswomen.
• Trade fairs that allow access to 23 international trade markets
• 76% of participants (business and business owner) feedback that their business activities are improved due to the ITC SheTrades’ support.
• 90% of female participants feedback that their knowledge and skills in product design and development had improved after the training activities.
• 74% of female participants responded that their strategy and operation in digital platforms have improved.
• 96% of female participants responded that their strategy and ability to access finance have improved.
• 91% of beneficiaries claimed that their business resilience and ability to withstand the negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic have strengthened.
• 17 new jobs were created for women.

Women Entrepreneurs Planning For Success Competition

The competition is part of the “Enhancing the capacity for women entrepreneurs to own in the digital economy” project, funded by the Netherlands Government and being implemented by VIETRADE and the Netherlands Embassy. Under the project, over 600 female entrepreneurs participated in the training section and at the end, 60 business plans were submitted.

The Award Gala for the competition “Women Entrepreneurs Planning For Success Competition” was held on November 25, 2021. Thirty-nine out-standing business plans were selected for the second, third, and encouragement prizes. However, the first prize was proudly given to Ms. Tran Thi Huyen, the CEO of Simple Decor JSC with the business plan focusing on creating a sustainable ecosystem of handicraft products based on digital transformation.