Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 3rd Edition

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Pulse of the Caribbean

Caribbean women have risen to the status of leadership in government, regional organisations, and to some extent in the private sector. However, there are still limitations which have an adverse effect on many women's ability to contribute to the development of the regional economy. Across the world, there is a move towards achieving gender equality and Caribbean Export is doing its part to equip and strengthen female entrepreneurs in theCaribbean region to export more of their products and services. We-Xport aims to: • Strengthen and support women-owned enterprises to increase their ability to access finance • Increase their access to new markets through facilitating networking opportunities and B2B meetings • Provide training opportunities in core business and professional areas identifies as priority areas by female entrepreneurs • Advocate on issues and public policies that negatively affect female entrepreneurs WE-Xport: Enhancing the export competitiveness of women-owned firms

Caribbean Export has facilitated a range of interventions as part of the WE-Xport programme. This included an Access to Finance workshop co-sponsored by the Caribbean Development Bank with six months follow-up support to ensure learnings from the workshop are effectively implemented. A key aspect of the programme is the assignment of personal Business Coaches to participating firms, and the provision of Technical Assistance to support their business development and growth, in to export markets. Towards the end of the this first year Caribbean Export will host the region’s first high-level Women’s Forum to connect participating WE-Xport firms and others to regional and international buyers. Further, as the opportunity arises, participation at regional and international trade shows has and will continue to be facilitated to increase firms’ export market penetration efforts. WE-Xport also aims to advocate on the challenges women in business face, and the introduction of a podcast series titled WE-Speak ,provides a platform to achieve this and is partly sponsored by UN Women. Caribbean Export is proud to share the first cohort of 20 female entrepreneurs in the WE-Xport programme.