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Women in Business: Dhaka Roundtable on Strengthening Market Access and Integration into Corporate Value Chains

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LightCastle Analytics Wing
April 11, 2018
Women in Business: Dhaka Roundtable on Strengthening Market Access and Integration into Corporate Value Chains

On April 10th, a high-level roundtable was hosted at the Amari Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh with  senior executives and managers from national and international corporations, women business owners of micro, small and medium enterprises, business associations, NGOs, donor agencies and high-level government officials from the Ministry of Commerce, including the Honorable Secretary, Shubhashish Bose.

Honorable Secretary Mr. Shubhashish Bose, Ministry of Commerce officially launching the event

“The roundtable brought together private industry leaders and other key stakeholders in a unique event to discuss the untapped potential of women business owners in Bangladesh,” WEConnect International Co-Founder and CEO Elizabeth Vazquez said. “Together, we can remove obstacles to market-access opportunity and put more money in the hands of women,”

According to studies conducted by WEConnect International, women-owned businesses earn less than 1 percent of all money spent on vendors by large corporations and governments worldwide.

Ms. Nihad Kabir, President, MCCI, sharing her remarks on the women entrepreneurship climate of Bangladesh and necessary steps

As part of this project, a survey was conducted to identify potential points of market entry for women-owned businesses in Bangladesh, and to find opportunities to connect them to local and global corporate value chains. Key findings from the survey were discussed at the roundtable event as well as recommendations and potential next steps.

Preliminary findings show the following:

  • 55 percent of corporate respondents do not believe that women-owned businesses can competitively provide the highest-priority products and services that are procured locally by corporations. While women-owned businesses are seen as potential suppliers of agricultural products, they are not viewed as competitive for Food and Beverages or Marketing services, activities that are among the strongest areas of competitiveness for women-owned businesses who conduct business with corporations globally.
  • Nearly 55 percent of respondents felt that women-owned businesses could improve the quality of their offering in order to do more business with corporations. It is standard practice for a corporate buyer to assess a new supplier’s product quality and fit, but interviews with business owners and the associations indicate that there is more pressure placed on women-owned businesses to prove the quality of their offer.
  • 48 percent of women-owned businesses emphasized experiencing difficulty in making connections to corporate buyers. During interviews, they noted that establishing networks in the sourcing departments of large corporations is complex and non-transparent.

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The recommendation from the roundtable along with results from the suvey will inform an upcoming capacity building program for women-owned businesses that are poised for growth. The long-term goal is to help local and global corporations identify women-owned businesses that could be competitive and sustainable suppliers and to equip these business owners with the skills they need to succeed.

This roundtable is part of a World Bank Group project funded by the UK Department for International Development – “Strengthening Market Access for Women Business Owners” and is focused on export diversification and gender-related activities. The project builds better connections between women-owned businesses and corporate buyers, provides capacity building training, and helps promote the business case for sourcing from women in Bangladesh.

WEConnect International and LightCastle Partners are the implementing agencies of the program. WEConnect International is a U.S.-based nonprofit that identifies, educates, registers, and certifies women’s business enterprises based globally that are at least 51 percent owned, managed, and controlled by one or more women, and then connects them with qualified member buyers. LightCastle Partners is a Bangladesh-based management consultancy which support corporations and governments with market research and advisory services.

This article was originally published in The Financial Express:  https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/roundtable-on-strengthening-market-access-integration-into-corporate-value-chains-1523877520


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WRITTEN BY: LightCastle Analytics Wing

At LightCastle, we take a systemic and data-driven approach to create opportunities for growth and impact. We are an international management consulting firm which creates systemic and data-driven opportunities for growth and impact in emerging markets. By collaborating with development partners and leveraging the power of the private sector, we strive to boost economies, inspire businesses, and change lives at scale.

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