Shetrade a project of Commonwealth got launched in Bangladesh on Thursday. The project aims towards women entrepreneurs in the country. International Trade Centre (ITC) will coordinate and implement the two year project.  For empowering ICT women entrepreneurs BASIS will also work along ITC.

A dedicated project of ITC’s global SheTrades initiative, the SheTrades in the Commonwealth Bangladesh project aims to drive increased trade, productivity and competitiveness for women entrepreneurs and women-owned companies to ensure that they play an active role in international trade. Through intensive training and mentoring activities, the goal is to strengthen the capacities of 3,000 women-owned businesses with a view to generate sales worth £28 million ($38m) by 2020

Officially launched in April and funded by United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), SheTrades in the Commonwealth was endorsed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May during the opening of the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) in London.

SheTrades in the Commonwealth – Bangladesh will address challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, including access to and control over land, cumber some business and financial institutional processes amongst other entrepreneurial challenges.

‘Women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh will receive tailored support through SheTrades in the Commonwealth enabling them to propel their existing market representation and secure greater access to global trade,’ said Nicholas Schlaepfer, Senior Programme Officer at ITC’s Women and Trade Programme.

BASIS Senior Vice President Farhana A Rahman said, BASIS has been working with ITC for a long time. BASIS feels privileged and happy to work with ITC in a big project like SheTrades. In Bangladesh ICT sector women’s participation is increasing day by day.