GOAL 5: INCREASE INFORMATION SHARING AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

One of the most effective tools in building a business is learning from those who have already achieved success. AWAN-EA bridges the information gap between women in different countries working toward similar goals—like coping with global competition. By building alliances and sharing ideas, African women in agribusiness can propel themselves to higher levels of performance.
Goal 5 aims to accomplish one clear objective—enhancing the regional network of women in agribusiness.

Our strategy is geared toward boosting international trade, forming alliances between individual firms, and increasing trade volumes and incomes. To achieve our objective of enhancing the regional network of women in agribusiness, AWAN-EA focuses on:

• Identifying information needs—We canvass our members to find out what they need to know to build their agribusinesses.These interviews help us identify regional and country-specific issues. Then we research and analyze relevant information about consumer patterns, markets, prices, production, policies and standards, all geared toward empowering our entrepreneurs.
• Disseminating key material—The next step is to get this information out there. Through our AWAN-EA website, newsletters and bulletins, we keep our members up-to-date on agribusiness news and trends.
• Developing a trade library—To enhance members’ access to industry news, we are building an agribusiness trade library, which will offer a database of international buyers and their contact information, details on international trade regulations and tariffs, product and market briefs and other relevant information.
• Attending networking forums—Regional and international agribusiness forums allow women to share ideas and partner with strategic actors in finance, trade, insurance, technical support and government. Such alliances enable members to access services, negotiate better contracts and improve their competitiveness in global markets.