Participants and cooperation partners of MI’s Regional Training Program on “Promoting Women Entrepreneurship for Export Business” organized four national workshops as part of their action plan implementation. The national workshops were held on August 24-26, 2017 in Yangon, Myanmar; September 5-6, 2017 in Vientiane, Lao PDR; September 20-21, 2017 in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; and September 29-October 1, 2017 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A total of 100 women entrepreneurs attended the workshops.
The 26 female trainees in the said regional training program adapted the workshop modules based on the local participants’ needs. They also served as resource persons in the national workshops. Bankers and freight forwarders were also invited to share about the export business.
MI staff provided technical assistance during the workshops and discussed with the training participants the development of their export market and/or business plan as part of Phase Three in November. They also conducted company visits and interviews with selected participants to gain a better understanding of the business status, and opportunities and challenges for women-led enterprises especially those in the export business.
Participants in the national workshops remarked that it was one of the first opportunities that gathered women entrepreneurs together and allowed them to learn from each other’s business and export practices. The workshop also served as a venue for networking and showcasing their products.
The national workshops are part of the one-year project on “Make the Market Work for the Less Developed Countries in CLMV,” sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The project seeks to provide a platform for both prospective and existing entrepreneurs representing small and medium-sized enterprises and business development services providers in the CLMV to share and learn about the latest tools and techniques for business development and promotion for the export market. The action plan implementation is the second phase of the project following the two-week regional training program held at the MI Headquarters in July this year.
