Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator Launches Online Entrepreneurship Certificate Program for Women Around the World

The Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA), announced the global launch of its online entrepreneurship curriculum designed to inspire, educate, and empower women entrepreneurs around the world. The Online Entrepreneurship Certificate Program was first announced during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 76) on the second anniversary of WEA.

WEA is a multi-stakeholder strategic partnership convening six United Nations agencies: International Labor Organization (ILO), International Trade Centre (ITC), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), UN Women, and Mary Kay. ITC is leading the capacity-building component of the multi-partnership.

Developed by ITC SheTrades and powered by Mary Kay in support of WEA, the guided Entrepreneurship Certificate Program included 27 interactive modules enriched with over 200 videos. The aim was to teach women entrepreneurs—aspiring or veteran—the skills to design and set up businesses that have potential to be economically viable. Participants learned how to adopt an entrepreneurship culture, develop ideas through design thinking and lean start-up methodologies, prepare a business model canvas, design a pitch, identify sources of funding, find the right partners, arrange for mentorship, build a team, and set up their businesses.

 The Certificate Program covered the seven key stages of business development:

• Certificate 1: Deciding to Become an Entrepreneur (6 modules),

• Certificate 2: Developing the Idea – Business Ideation (3 modules),

• Certificate 3: Business Modelling (4 modules),

• Certificate 4: Pitching the Business (4 modules),

• Certificate 5: Funding the Venture (3 modules),

• Certificate 6: Building up the Team (4 modules),

• Certificate 7: Setting up the Business (3 modules).

The WEA Online Entrepreneurship Certificate Program is now accessible at the fingertips of millions of women directly on the ITC SheTrades website and on the WEA website. It is currently available in English, Spanish, and French, Arabic, Russian and Mandarin. It is free for all users of shetrades.com with no barrier to entry. Participants will receive a certificate upon completion of each of the seven key stages of business development.

“The world needs more women entrepreneurs,” said Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer at Mary Kay Inc. “Almost half of all women entrepreneurs claim to be driven by the desire to contribute to the great societal good. Their impact can be immense. The WEA Online Entrepreneurship Certificate Program is a game-changer for women and girls around the world. With the right tools and support, there’s no limit to what women can do.”

“We must increase women’s participation in international trade, helping them scale their businesses so that they become the catalysts for more inclusive and sustainable communities. Women are powerful agents of change – and empowering women benefits whole societies,” said Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre.

An official launch event was held on January 18, 2022, in collaboration with Mary Kay. It convened women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses from the ITC SheTrades network around the world. The event was hosted virtually in English and served as a platform to present the Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, and upcoming in-country trainings. The SheTrades team presented the entrepreneurship curriculum as well as other tools available on www.shetrades.com.

The launch of the WEA Certificate Program on the ITC SheTrades eLearning platform was also supplemented at the national level with on-the-ground training for women from developing countries interested in entrepreneurship and/or planning to integrate into regional and global value chains. The in-country training sessions provided practical insight and expertise to women entrepreneurs and MSMEs and took place virtually in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and India. The training sessions was hold in Spanish (Colombia, Mexico), Portuguese (Brasil) and English (India). Sessions focused on two main topics: “Competitiveness and Export Readiness” (19-20 January) and “Digital Marketing and e-commerce workshops” (1-3 February).

The contribution falls under ITC's “Empowering Women to Trade Program” which contributes directly to ITC’s focus area 5 “Promoting and Mainstreaming Inclusive and Green Trade” and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5, 8 and 17.

WEA has committed to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2030.