Rwanda: Value Added Initiative to Boost Employment for Women-led Businesses

Summary

The project “Rwanda: Value-added Initiative to Boost Employment (VIBE) for Women-led Businesses” aims to support 150 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the horticulture sector (green beans, passion fruit and chili) to access new market opportunities and generate USD 10 million value of sales. The following describes planned areas of intervention during the project timeframe:

1. Increasing market access, knowledge and business information.
2. Providing a market-access training programme to respond to specific market-related challenges faced by women-led MSMEs.
3. Offering a digital and marketing training programme to strengthen digital identity and asset of women-led MSMEs.
4. Providing peer-to-peer learning sessions, mentoring and networking activities by leveraging regional and international networks of the ITC SheTrades Initiative between Rwandese women-led MSMEs and others countries where ITC set up SheTrades Hubs.
5. Facilitating business generation for the horticulture sector through international and regional trade fairs, inward trade missions, and B2B meeting opportunities (online or in-person).
6. Strengthening the capacity and leadership of the SheTrades Rwanda Hub, hosted by the Private Sector Federation (PSF) Specialized Cluster to create a community of partners and foster an enabling environment for women-led MSMEs in Rwanda.