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international

$5.8 million dollars in potential deals. We now
aim to replicate our approach to support small
businesses in housing construction, to address
the housing shortage following years of conflict.
We are also stimulating investment in climate-
smart construction equipment and technology,
to create conditions for environmentally
sustainable growth in one of the countries
hardest hit by the climate crisis.

What is the role of small businesses, especially
in developing countries, and how does the ITC
support their efforts?
We are the UN small business agency. We are in
the business of strengthening small businesses,
so they can strengthen the economies of their
countries, through trade. Small businesses are
the backbone of most economies, making up 90%
of companies and two-thirds of jobs, worldwide.
So their action – or inaction – matters. We International Chamber of Commerce to help 1st May 2024
support small businesses by working with three small businesses in ASEAN countries seize e- - ITC 60th
core groups, at three levels: small businesses commerce opportunities; and on sustainability, anniversary
by improving firm-level capacities to trade, we’re working with organizations like ISEAL
institutions to create a more supportive business Alliance to scale up relevant tools like our
ecosystem, and governments to create a more Sustainability Map to reach more businesses.
conducive policy and regulatory environment
for small businesses. We work with small businesses, governments
and institutions alike: We’ve helped more than
We prioritize support to those who need it 40,000 small businesses to improve business
most: women, young people and members operations, transact international business
of vulnerable or traditionally “overlooked” or receive investment. More than 14,000
communities, including refugees, Indigenous of those are women-led businesses. We’ve
Peoples and people with disabilities. We support helped policymakers to achieve consensus on,
the smallest, most remote and least developed. introduce or change over 100 policies/strategies,
Our clients reported having transacted over with business sector input, in favour of small
$300 million in new business last year. Much business competitiveness. We’ve worked with
of our work was with the private sector, so let hundreds of business support organizations
me share some examples of that. We’re working (which are multipliers of our work in-country),
with Visa to integrate Visa’s resources into our which reported almost 500 cases of performance
Ye! Community, a global platform dedicated improvement. The organizers we work with
to youth entrepreneurs; we’ll continue to work serve over 1.3 million members. For example,
with the Visa Foundation to support refugees within our Coffee Network, we reached almost
in Kenya and Pakistan, with a strong focus on 100,000 smallholder farmers. More than 500,000
women and youth, to tap economic opportunities clients gained greater awareness of international
in the digital services sector; in Rwanda, we’re trade through our global public goods.
working with the Mastercard Foundation on We’ve also delivered over 4,000 training days
refugee empowerment in the agricultural sector, to beneficiaries, to build their overall business/
to enhance their integration into local and trade skills.
regional trade networks, and we plan to expand
our collaboration to countries like Uganda, to Today e-commerce or digital commerce has
empower youth in the creative industries; on become part of our life, and this has
digital, we’re partnering with Google and the increased since the pandemic, but e-commerce

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