TANZANIA, will benefit from a 12bn/- support (5.3 million US dollars) from TradeMark Africa (TMA) to empower women entrepreneurs to access the East African Community and international markets.

The commitment was made by the TradeMark Africa, Country Director, Mr John Ulanga during a Validation Workshop for a Baseline Survey that was conducted to ascertain status of Tanzania women traders export to EAC region at Dar es Salaam over the week end.
Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce (TWCCIA) will get 500m/-out of the funds to support them run their activities, he said.
Mr Ulanga said, TMA Women and Trade (WaT) programme seeks to increase incomes and improve livelihoods for women traders and women-owned enterprises through capacity building, addressing trade barriers and advocacy for policies that will create an enabling environment for them to thrive. He said a recent survey has shown 70 per cent of crossborder business is done by women traders, but for a long time, they have been facing geographical, gender, financial, and legal obstacles.
The government and Private Sector need to jointly show their recognition of women’s labour by providing a fair and conducive environment for them to trade, he said. “It is therefore important to continually advocate for balanced frameworks and policy change that will nurture the growth of women in cross border trading,” he said.
He further said, TMA’s Women and Trade (WaT) programmes seek to use existing infrastructure to implement and roll out the various interventions focusing on women informal cross border traders. Women’s inclusion is very important to improving the region’s overall business competitiveness.”
The Chairman of the Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce (TWCC), Jaquiline Mneney Maleko, said empowering women creates a positive multiplier effect on poverty reduction, economic growth, government revenues and employment creation.
“We indeed are grateful to TMA and its partners for playing a big role in reducing poverty by increasing participation of women in export and trade in East Africa, increasing in female employment, increasing the value of exports and also supporting women in SME’s in Tanzania,” she said.
TradeMark Africa (TMA) is a not-for-profit organisation funded by a range of development agencies with the aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through trade. It works closely with East African Community (EAC) institutions, national governments, the private sector and civil society organisations.