UNCTAD Announces the finalists of the Women in Business Award 2012!

In this issue

UNCTAD Announces the finalists of the Women in Business Award 2012!

Launching pad for a new Empretec product: the two-day Empretec Business Networking Challenge

UNCTAD participates in Athgo-World Bank Global Innovation Forum on Constructive Entrepreneurship

Latin and Central American trainers gather for a training of trainers in Cartagena, Colombia

SIDO holds its first ETW in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Zambia Development Agency pushes for Zambian SMEs growth

Events

UNCTAD’s Empretec Women in Business Award (E-WBA) has been granted every two years since 2008 to women trained by national Empretec

centres. These women have excelled in developing innovative business ideas, providing jobs, and increasing income in their communities. The E-WBA has

been shown to have had a real impact on the lives of recipients, their access to education and resources, and their motivation to continue developing their enterprises. The special recognition provided by the E-WBA has helped women to become role models in their communities as successful micro-entrepreneurs working to improve the quality of life of the people around them.

The inspiring stories of the women entrepreneurs honoured have made the past two Award programmes a great success and have paved the way for the third Empretec Women in Business Award. The award ceremony will take place in Qatar, in April 2012, during the World Investment Forum (WIF) which will be held in parallel with the UNCTAD XIII Ministerial Conference. The high-level personalities participating in the Conference will be called upon during the ceremony to present the awards and announce the winners of the first, second and third prizes.

The UNCTAD WIF is the global centre of gravity for the international investment community. The WIF activities can be followed by signing up for

Twitter @unctadwif and visiting the website http://unctad-worldinvestmentforum.org.

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E-WBA Finalists

Candidate Profiles (listed alphabetically by country)

Based in one of the poorest Brazilian States, Moura and Paz pioneered environmental solutions for the collection, transportation and final treatment of dangerous goods, for example, industrial or medical waste. Any new firm in the market brings a new dream and new socio-economic opportunities for development. Moura and Paz brought new jobs that are now 22 and new investments were made to

upgrade employees’ skills professional training. The company also organizes training for stakeholders including municipalities and customers. Every 60 days, Patricia collaborates with different stakeholders to organize awareness campaigns. The firm is opened to visits from students and scientists to share our knowledge of new technologies for the solid waste treatment.

Moura e Paz – Soluções Ambientais – www.mouraepaz.com.br

« My business idea at Moura and Paz is totally devoted to the environment preservation trying to protect the future of this planet and of the next generation. »

BRASIL – Patrícia Paz Silva Giordani

AURORA. The company specializes in the separation, recollection, treatment and commercialization of solid and inorganic waste at the national and international levels. Furthermore, the enterprise is certified by the Ministry of Environment to provide training and environmental awareness seminars. It is currently the unique

enterprise in the country that offers a comprehensive environmental management programme to supplier organizations of inorganic waste.

AURORA – www.fundacionaurora.blogspot.com

« The  idea  to  start  AURORA  came  from  realizing  the enormous amount of garbage piled up  in the streets of El Salvador.We knew that this waste, if treated adequately, has a market value, otherwise it is the source of environmental contamination. »

Mys Compu Solution offers Internet access and a large range of IT services to the growing population of an Ecuadorian village. Recently, Maria José has also started a pig farming business where the cattle are fed with natural food, offering 100% fresh meat products. Strongly committed to community development, Maria José has created an association aiming at

improving food security, by teaching seventeen women to cultivate certified organic fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, she owns two soccer fields that she rents or where she organizes entertainment events for children and adults. María José’s objective is to keep all her businesses functioning and growing.

Mys Compu Solution

« I learnt to believe that everything is possible as long as I search for information and for the necessary advice and as long as I set the goals I want to reach, not just letting myself being taken by the wind. »

ECUADOR – María José Vicuña

During the last five years Ethiopia has registered double digit GDP growth which fueled fast expansion of the construction industry and created growing business opportunities for small, medium and large scale construction companies. Bisrat Genera Construction’s services are unique as they focus on the efficient use of resources resulting

in increased productivity and affordable house prices. The company pays

particular attention to the environment by using eco-friendly construction materials, providing waste disposal facilities, and planting trees in project sites. Bisrat General Construction

« Construction business has been dominated and is almost controlled  by men.  I  started my  construction  company to break this  taboo and be a successful competitor  in the sector. »

ETHIOPIA – Bisrat Debebe Negese

Advanced Pharmaceutical Services offers bulk purchasing and a large range of services such as a pharmacy management software, accounting and tax services, recruitment services and the management of insurance claims to retail pharmacies. The offered services give individually-owned pharmacies the chance to stay in the market and remain competitive, especially after the Jordanian government changed

a law in 2011 allowing pharmacy chains to operate in the market. In 2011, Advanced Pharmaceutical Services had 70 customers and Raghda Kurdi who started the company in 2006 hopes to double the number of customers within the next two years. She sees training of employees as crucial and offers continuous training for all her employees. Additionally, she offers a special

training for women who want to return to their work place after they have children.Advanced Pharmaceutical Services – www.pharmaserve-jo.com

« My business is unique because no one else provides retail pharmacies  with  these  kinds  of  services  offering  them a  boost  of  their  brand which  they  can benefit  from with customers. »

JORDAN – Raghda Kurdi

EL SALVADOR – Maria Carlota Guevara

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E-WBA Finalists

Tropical Panama Gourmet blends culinary training with a knowledge of nutrition and a passion for food. The company specializes in developing gourmet products delivered to supermarkets and restaurants. In addition the company has a portfolio of training services and personalized catering. Melissa has also developed gluten-free products as well as sugar-free

products for diabetics and a technique that allows for the preservation of products on the shelf for up to ten months without using additives or preservatives. Her ambition is to export a 100% Panamanian product, while at same time

contributing to the grains agribusiness in her country and promoting healthy nutrition.

Tropical Panama Gourmet – www.panamagourmet.net

« What I am good at is working shoulder to shoulder with my staff, always giving the best of me and allowing them to always see me involved in the production process. »

PANAMA – Melissa De León

KinderKare Pre-School is an internationally-focused nursery school for small children. The children learn in a caring, clean and secure environment. Currently, the business strategy is to maintain a chain of up-scale nursery schools in peri-urban areas, where the target customers mainly reside. KinderKare Pre-School has introduced

to the Ugandan society many new amenities in primary care, including reading and extra curriculum activities such as paddle pool swimming at no extra cost to the parents. The nurseries maintain extensive lending libraries for their learners to peruse at school or take home. This encourages strong reading habits that will help them as they advance in their education.

KinderKare Pre-School – www.kinderkarepreschool.com

« We intend to see KinderKare as the household name when it comes to early childhood education. »

UGANDA – Jane Frances Nakato

SANDA Hoa Binh produces and exports handicraft products, including bamboo and rattan baskets, grass brooms and hand-embroidered fabrics. Thu learned how to make hand-made handicraft when she was a little girl in primary school. Struggling to survive, she used to sell all her products in the village market once a week. She is now a

successful businesswoman, exporting abroad (in Asia and beyond) but also very keen on strengthening her ties with traditional domestic customers. Her products have a high-content design and quality levels, they are durable, colorful and eye-catching, and are made of materials that are free from chemical substances and environmentally friendly.SANDA Hoa Binh Ltd.

« I was often dreaming of flying on my grass broom and go beyond the small village market, to sell my products outside,  offer  job  opportunities  to  the  poorest members  of my village, and help them to survive. Now that dream has come true. »

VIET NAM – Nguyen Thi Thu

Zimbabwe’s mbira is a traditional instrument of the Shona people. The Mbira is the one and only instrument recognized by UNESCO as a tangible Heritage. Banma supports Zimbabwean musicians and instrument makers, and their families, through worldwide Zimbabwean music education, recordings, and performances.

During the academy’s 13 years of existence, sales of field recordings generated over $170,000 for over 230 Zimbabwean musicians, and sales of mbiras generated over $405,000 for 19 Zimbabwean instrument makers. The academy has also created the largest archive of Shona mbira music in the world, which is a permanent resource for generations to come.Barbra Nyika Mbira Academy (BANMA) – www.mbira.com

« Being a leader in mbira business in Zimbabwe, BANMA has promoted others to start their businesses as artists thus reducing unemployment.»

ZIMBABWE – Barbara Zoe Nyika

No Suprises is an event management company that offers personalised high value solutions to its clients comprising companies from all industries, entertainment companies, non-profit organisations, associations and professional institutes. By combining event & project management and marketing,

No Surprises gets a unique edge, which distinguishes the company from its competitors. As a result of attending the Empretec workshop, Funmi Victor-Okigbo, who started No Surprises in 2005, also started a second company focusing entirely on wedding planning and organization.

No Suprises Ltd. – www.nosurprisesevents.com

« My business idea was born out of a desire to add my touch to  the  existing  concepts  of  event management.  I  wanted a  complete departure  from  the  conservative  approach  to  a more radically trendy approach. »

NIGERIA – Funmi Victor-Okigbo

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MicroentrepreneursIn addition to the 10 finalists, Empretec also awards women microentrepreneurs. Nominees for the category Microentrepreneur and Start-Ups

are:

Chunchino eco-bebé – produces clothing and accessories for babies in an eco-friendly way and provides innovative designs for babies.

ARGENTINA – Ileana Lacabanne

Zikora – produces cosmetic products from Shea nuts and sells and markets them both in the domestic as well as the international market.

BENIN – Mêmounatou Zacari

MayaWorks – produces handicrafts such as jewelry, home accessories and religious items. Maya Works employs local women and gives them the chance to sell their unique handicrafts.

GUATEMALA – Mirian Otzín de Otzoy

Hypro Primary Cooperative Ltd-manufactures hygiene products with a focus on female products and offers training services related to the products, which aim at education young girls about topics which are still taboos in South Africa.

SOUTH AFRICA – Lerato Matsau

IJB Real Estate – constructs low-costs housing in Kampala. Being a young woman, Judith is a true pioneer is her industry.

UGANDA – Judith Ineku

Microentrepreneurs

1st prize winner of 2010: Lira School founded by Beatrice is now hosting more than 1,500 students, and she plans to open a university on the same premises this year. She was a member of EM Lyon’s World Entrepreneurship Forum Think Tank in 2010 and she visited Geneva in January 2011 to attend the Multi-Year Expert Meeting on Entrepreneurship Education where she shared her amazing story with the audience. In 2001, she was one of seven women the US Mission in Uganda in partnership with Isis-WICCE, an international women’s organization, honoured for their courage, resilience and selfless efforts to improve the lot of women in their communities. Receiving her award, Ayuru noted, “I’m humbled and honored to be recognized as one of the women supporting our nation. I never thought that someone would recognize me because I was discouraged from the beginning.”

BEATRICE AYURU BYARUHANGA - Lyra Integrated School - UGANDA

3rd prize winner of 2008: Tina started exporting her garments to the United States and she opened an affiliate of JemAfrik in Miami. Being a true entrepreneur, she saw a business opportunity by selling processed fish in the United States so she opened a second company in Miami. Tina visited Switzerland on a study tour in May 2011 where she had the chance to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship promotion by addressing UNCTAD’s Commission on Investment and Enterprise.

AUGUSTINA HAMMOND - JemAfrik - GHANA

Finalist of 2010: After being nominated, Vanessa started exporting her products to several countries. Kapeh’s sales increased significantly due to the large amount of media attention Vanessa received. Vanessa visited Geneva in May 2011 and participated in a panel on green entrepreneurship. Additionally, she participated in several international events: the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies Conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in May 2010 and in the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society taking place in France in October 2011.

VANESSA VILELA - Kapeh - BRAZIL

Stories and highlights of finalists from past editions

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Launching pad for a new Empretec product: the two-day Empretec Business Networking ChallengeWith a steady tenor, a booming voice and his rich Ghanaian-accented English, Nana opened the Empretec Business Networking Challenge held on 8 and 9 August in Arlington, Virginia. “Entrepreneurship is international. It is a concept that has no boundaries.” UNCTAD and Arlington Economic Development partnered (AED) to implement a two-day, international, entrepreneurship workshop. This collaboration was the culmination of a year-long effort to develop new, international, entrepreneur-focused programming that furthered the shared mission of both organizations to promote successful entrepreneurship, foster SME development, and create mutually beneficial partnerships that enhance the capacities of entrepreneurs.

The workshop utilized the behavioral-based methodology, dynamic activities, and empirical learning style of Empretec’s flagship Entrepreneurial Training Workshop (ETW). The four trainers (representing Empretec Centres in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Nigeria, and Guyana) selected one behavior from each of the three clusters in the Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies (PECs) to form the basis of the training. An information-seeking exercise and a business networking challenge provided specific opportunities for participants to put learned behaviors into practice outside the classroom environment. In addition to providing exposure to the Empretec methodology of behavioral change and a multicultural learning experience in which participants were able to draw from their own diverse set of personal experiences in order to teach one another, expand their business networks, identify new opportunities, and gain access to a comprehensive range of Arlington-based SME capacity-building services.

AED partnered with the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to identify participants who would most benefit from the workshop. The groundbreaking event included representatives from UNCTAD, the Directors of the Empretec Centres in Ghana, Nigeria, Guyana and the Dominican Republic, international entrepreneurs, local entrepreneurs and representative from BizLaunch and the following partner organizations: The Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), SCORE, the Hispanic Committee of Virginia, the Business Development Assistance Group (BDAG) and the Enterprise Development Group (EDG).

The thirteen entrepreneurs participating in the workshop represented a wide variety of service and product based enterprises, including the importing and sale of Bolivian chocolate, retail sale of designer women’s shoes in hard-to-find sizes (US size 10-14), residential trash bin cleaning service, life and professional coaching, financial and business consultants, and apiary products, among others. All but three of the entrepreneurs were currently in business. By all accounts the event was a resounding success. The entrepreneurs largely attributed to the sound

Empretec methodology, the synergy of the group to the diversity of participant backgrounds and the advanced level of participants’ exposure, access to information, and levels of experience.

AED will continue to collaborate with UNCTAD to deliver innovative programming that fosters the sustainable growth and success of Arlington-based entrepre-neurs in today’s increasingly global business environment.

Participants try to build the tallest self-standing structure during the Marshmallow Challenge in Arlington, USA, 8-9 August 2011 (Business Networking Challenge)

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UNCTAD participates in Athgo-World Bank GlobalInnovation Forum on Constructive EntrepreneurshipThe Athgo Global Innovation Forum was held 10-12 August in Washington, United States. The forum is dedicated to youth entrepreneurship. It welcomed the active participation of Empretec Directors from the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guyana and Nigeria. The forum also provided an international platform to showcase the Empretec knowledge in entrepreneurship development to young entrepreneurs from many countries, to companies based in USA and Canada (CEOs, General Counsel of major international law firms and senior corporate managers of several north American corporations that participated in the forum and interacted with the UNCTAD/Empretec

delegation), and to the World Bank. Empretec Directors and trainers’s participation in the 3-day forum was considered extremely valuable as they provided valuable technical inputs to the working groups. The Forum’s programme featured “development sessions” during which groups conceived, developed and presented a viable business project. It is noteworthy that the team that won the prize for the best business project included the Empretec Director of Ghana – a seasoned entrepreneurship trainer, and the team that came in 2nd place included another Empretec Trainer, Mr. Aubrey Roberts from Guyana.

Latin and Central American trainers gather for a training of trainers in Cartagena, ColombiaHosted by Empretec Colombia - CAFAM, a regional training of trainers took place at the beginning of October in beautiful Cartagena, Colombia. It was a dynamic and interactive three day training led by international master trainers Angelica Bayo and Fernando Ruiz Toranzo. 16 instructors attended coming from Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. The first day was devoted to methodology, the role of an Empretec instructor and interaction within teams of instructors. It ended with a review of the Empretec selection interview through live interviews which were evaluated and discussed by all of the participating instructors.

The second day focused on the six day version of the Empretec training. Instructors were asked to form groups and design their own version of the Empretec training. Afterwards, the international master trainers went over what are the key and inflexible aspects of the training in terms of sequence and content and which are the more flexible ones.

Ms. Onari Duke (Empretec Nigeria) shake hands with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank, at Athgo’s 4th Global Innovation Forum on “Climate Change and Constructive Entrepreneurship” at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (10-12 August 2011)

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SIDO holds its first ETW in Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaThe 10th Empretec workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, organized jointly with SIDO (Small Industries Development Organization) from 18 to 23 July 2011, was officially closed by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Marketing, Dr. Cyril Chami, who handed over Empretec certificates to 27 new empretecos.

Addressing the participants (60% of which were women), the Minister encouraged them to work hard to get their businesses to succeed and told them his personal endeavours with different businesses, providing first-hand feelings about failures and successes, and showing outstanding persistence to achieve his goals. Dr. Chami listened to each and every participant’s feedback and stressed his keen interest and enthusiastic support to the Empretec programme in his country.

On the third and final day, the Empretec Plus training used for rural micro entrepreneurs in Panama was presented. It is a product which many centres in the region are interested in using and which is also being translated into English. The instructors had the opportunity to evaluate and comment on both the participants’ and instructors’ manual which are still in progress. Finally, the Empretec training for intrapreneurs was discussed and compared to the traditional Empretec training for entrepreneurs. The Training of Trainers took place just prior to the 5th Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Research Conference which was held for the first

time in Latin America. The instructors were able to attend the launch of the conference where UNCTAD presented its work on entrepreneurship policy and CAFAM presented its work with Empretec in Colombia.

Zambia Development Agency pushes for Zambian SMEs growthOne of the priorities of the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) is the promotion of the SME sector which contributes significantly to the country’s growth domestic product (GDP). Through its national business linkages programme, supported by UNCTAD and ILO, ZDA signed five linkage agreements to enable SMEs to engage in business with large corporate entities. After a successful Empretec training workshop organized for suppliers to the Konkola Copper Mines company in February this year, ZDA

organized a second training for suppliers to Mopani Copper Mines, in Kitwe, from 8 to 13 August 2011.The training team, led by Ms. Busi Bango (International Master Trainer from Zimbabwe) who was assisted by three local trainee trainers, guided the 17 entrepreneurs through a learning experience that they found to be “unique, different and very useful”. They also indicated that the workshop had assisted them to identify some of their key strengths and weaknesses.

Participants to the ToT in Cartagena, Colombia, 3-6 October 2011

H.E. Dr. C. Chami addressing empretecos during the 10th ETW in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 18-23 July 2011

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ContactAll inquiries and requests to submit articles to the Empretec Newsletter may be directed to the Editor: Fiorina Mugione, Empretec Programme, UNCTAD.

18 – 21 October 2011Empretec Directors’ Meeting - South Africa

14- 20 November 2011Global Entrepreneurship Week

18-23 July 2011ETW 10 – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,

8-12 August 2011 Business Networking Challenge, Arlington, USA

8-13 August 2011Business Linkages ETW 5 – Kitwe, Zambia

22-27 August 2011Empretec training for women mentors and men-tees - Panama City, Panama (in alliance with NGO Vital Voices)

12-17 September 2011ETW 11 – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

15-16 September 2011Mini empretec workshop on team building – Panama

18-29 September 2011Business Linkages training for 40 farmers, Mo-zambique

3-6 October 2011Regional Latin American TOT in Cartagena, Colombia (with the participation of trainers from Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela)

10-17 October 2011ETW 7 (for micro entrepreneurs) – Panama

Global events Empretec national events

Future global events16-19 January 2012Multi-Year Expert Meeting on Enterprise Development and Science and Technology Capacity Building, UNCTAD, Geneva

13-15 March 2012World Entrepreneurship Congress, Liverpool, United Kingdom

21- 26 April, 2012World Investment Forum and UNCTAD XIII, Doha, Qatar

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