E-COMMERCE FOR AFRICAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS AND TRAINING BY THE GENDER NETWORKING ACADEMY ASAFE EXPERIENCE Presented by Gisèle YITAMBEN

1.Women entrepreneurs engaged in: –Textile –Handicraft –Agro-processing –Services –Cross border trade –Manufacturing 2.Young degree holders or not, in research of employment. BENEFICIARIES OF ASAFE’S PROGRAMMES

Why ASAFE engaged in E-commerce −Evolution of the activities of beneficiaries 1.Turn over 2.Geographical expansion −Necessary evolution and adaptation of ASAFE with regard of women entrepreneurs and the environment E-COMMERCE FOR AFRICAN WOMEN

ASAFE ASAFE before ITC

ASAFE ASAFE AND THE USE OF ITCs

Physical Infrastructure

ASAFE’s CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS 20 PCs ASAFE Community Cyber Café Wireless link 8 km 40 PCs 20 PCs

ITC (International Trade Center) United Nations structure specialised in International Trade Shift of ITC Policy, to work with civil society organization ITC willing to work in synergy with ITU and ASAFE NID ( Networked Intelligence for Dev’t) Experience with ITC Diaspora-Africa Cooperation Good knowledge of the African terrain Commitment to support the African continent Residence in North America which has helped to make ASAFE known in the area Mentor Other Financial and Technical Partners Chell.com PNUD Japanese Government Private entrepreneurs ITU (International Telecommunication Union) United Nations structure specialised in telecommunication Interest in gender and ITC ITU helped Camtel (National Provider of Internet) adopt wireless technology Technical and financial support to ASAFE ASAFE STRATEGIC PARTNERS

Active approach for the promotion of women Develop value added and remunerative jobs for women in ITC Concern to see women move from traditional to more lucrative jobs Necessity to put in place new training programmes for the existing demand (networking, word processing, trouble shooting, webmastering etc.) GENDER NETWORKING ACADEMY

NID Technical support to implement dialogue between ASAFE and government organizations Awareness raising of the government Datamation South-South cooperation Shared vision Exchanged visit Coaching Internship UNDP Training of trainers Equipment CISCO Web based educational content, online testing, student performance tracking, and instructor training and support, as well as hands-on labs Participation of Cameroonian trainees to a global net work Important job opportunities Others ASAFE