Mekong Institute (MI) has rolled out the modular training program on “Entrepreneurship Development Through E-Commerce Promotion” on October 26, 2020 to November 6, 2020 to increase the participation of women entrepreneurs from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) in competitive global markets.  

Supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency, 20 female representatives of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are being trained to sustain and expand their businesses by enhancing their managerial skills, broadening their access to business opportunities, and mentoring them to expand their networks and export products via e-commerce beyond countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion and particularly in the Republic of Korea.

In addition, officials from CLMV trade support organizations are participating in the sessions to level off understanding on current market trends, as well as to enhance targeted services that will create an enabling environment for SMEs to thrive in the current COVID-19 conditions.

The training, which is under the “Market Access Through E-Commerce Promotion for Women-Led SMEs” project, aims to deliver gender-responsive measures at a time when digitalization and innovation are necessary to keep supply and value chains active while social distancing guidelines are enforced.

At the end the two-week virtual course, SME representatives will be tasked to finalize their e-export market plans and test these by opening online stores through popular e-platforms in their respective target markets, while trade support organization officers will conduct a series of local workshops or trainings to expose more women-led SMEs to e-commerce business strategies and opportunities. From learnings gleaned from these assignments, participants will reconvene at an online Synthesis and Evaluation Workshop to share experiences and best practices to foster sustained knowledge exchange between CLMV SMEs and trade support organizations.