Women Entrepreneurs Must Reap Benefits of Trade

A workshop on ‘Women Entrepreneurs in Global Trade’ was organized by MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai to understand the important role that women entrepreneurs can bring to global trade. The workshop was conducted by Professor Khedkar, a senior faculty at the World Trade Centre Institute, Mumbai on August 10, 2017 at the World Trade Centre Mumbai. Professor Khedkar said, “The global survey conducted by the UN asked for an opinion on ‘the solution to food shortage in the rest of the world’. Seeking the opinion failed because different countries responded differently”.

Global Trade is vast having scope for opportunity, and requires passion to succeed, said Professor Khedkar. Elaborating on the above, he said that prior to 1991, Indian exports were very rare since awareness of world markets was meager. However, since then India has come a long way, as a result of governance, its industrialists and customers.

The workshop consisted of four sessions, namely ‘How to prepare for exports’, ‘Tools for exports’, ‘Foreign Trade Policy’ and ‘Logistics’. Professor Khedkar highlighted the 14 ‘Ps’ (essentials for marketing) for exports, the major ones being ‘Product’ – not just features, but also performance and benefits; ‘Price’ – should be optimum, affordable and fair; ‘Place’ – should be convenient to the purchaser; ‘Promotion’ – effective communication; ‘Packaging’ – should be easy to use, difficult to tamper and convenient to dispose; and ‘Performance’ – having tangible results.

Mr. A. O. Kuruvila, Advisor, Trade and Education, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai introduced the World Trade Centre concept and elaborated the various services and facilities on offer. He also emphasized the unique training programmes organized at the Centre for skilling entrepreneurs to enter the global market.

Ms. Rupa Naik, Senior Director, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai in her presentation reminisced the 6th Global Economic Summit, a flagship event of the World Trade Centre Mumbai, on ‘Women’s Empowerment: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Capacity Building’ which was held in March 2017. The stellar event had drawn participation from women entrepreneurs from all spheres of the industry both in India and overseas. They were introduced and invited to be a part of the SheTrades App, which is an initiative by the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva to connect one million women entrepreneurs to markets by 2020. World Trade Centre Mumbai has been recognized as a verifier of the application and is open to verifying companies in India to be a part of the network of SheTrades. Ms. Naik urged the participants to download the SheTrades App and get access to the worldwide platform of buyers. She also encouraged women to start businesses at their own locations, wherever they are.

In Photo: Ms. Rupa Naik, Senior Director, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai addressing the audience. Seated (L-R): Mr. A. O. Kuruvila, Advisor, Trade and Education, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai and Professor Khedkar, a senior faculty at the World Trade Centre Institute, Mumbai.