TAWITFAbout TAWITF
The African Women International Trade Fair (TAWITF) is primarily concerned about the most disadvantaged and underserved African woman entrepreneur lacking in information, funding, market access, collaboration, and institutional support.tawitfThe African Woman International Trade Fair (TAWITF)
TAWITF creates an intervention vehicle that prioritises this category of women who are unfortunately typically excluded from institutional business support opportunities owing to location, level of awareness, and socio-economic status, among others, ensuring that they are vigorously sought after and supported to become significant active contributors to the economy. We believe no African woman should be left behind.
The TAWITF target market has been carefully carved out to drive inclusion. Trade-challenged African women from across the continent are targeted for impact using a regional-bloc progression approach— intervention is designed for women in each African regional bloc, promoting unique opportunities in each bloc and broadening access to the central African market and the global market.
The African Women International Trade Fair is a multi-pronged intervention vehicle which seeks to increase access to fair and profitable trade for African women, enhancing their substantial participation in the modern globalised market. The fair is designed as biennial event, and structured, among others, to host an exhibition and a conference broken into technical sessions with keynote speakers and renowned panelists from across Africa.
The ultimate objective is to build Africa’s economy, one woman at a time.
A safe haven where African women entrepreneurs thrive and contribute to the growth of the African and global economy.
To build Africa’s economy, one woman at a time
Our Motivation
Despite enormous opportunities and the strides in economic growth and growing number of women in leadership in the Africa, gender inequality remains a significant barrier to growth and well-being across the continent.
Women face differential barriers in access to assets, markets, capital, training, and technologies, and significantly underrepresented in decision-making across all levels, limiting them from reaching their full potential and fully contributing to their countries’ economies.
According to USAID, few women in Africa have bank or mobile money accounts and even less can borrow money. The gender digital gap is worsened by affordability, illiteracy, and a lack of digital skills, keeping women out and serving as key barriers to mobile phone use and ownership.
While women make up a substantial percentage of small-scale cross border traders in the continent, however, access to finance for female-owned and female-led enterprises remains a major constraint on businesses’ growth. For instance, it is estimated that informal cross-border trade accounts for up to 60% of all intra-regional trade in East Africa alone, and women are estimated to compose 80% of all informal traders.
