ITC, EDB, & UK Government Unveil SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub

• The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) launched the SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub last week
• The hub is funded by the UK’s SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme
• It aims to equip women entrepreneurs with skills, market access, and policy support

The Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) inaugurated the SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub, with the UK's SheTrades Commonwealth+ Programme. The hub is an all-encompassing resource platform created to enable women entrepreneurs by making skills, market access, and policy assistance available to them, enabling them to navigate international trade dynamics and increase their share in global trade.

Sri Lanka's trade sector has been remarkably resilient, with merchandise trade having reached $16.17 billion during 2024, up 7.06 percent from the year before, according to the EDB, in contrast to persistent economic downturn throughout the world.

The women-owned businesses account for over 25 percent of Sri Lanka's small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but are greatly restrained from accessing world buyers and building their businesses, which are the usual barriers confronting women business owners globally.

The SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub will help to break these barriers by providing specialized training, trade facilitation, and networking opportunities that will allow Sri Lanka to seize its economic growth and export potential.

The launch highlighted Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya's focus on women's economic empowerment. "Women have long been at the forefront of Sri Lanka's social and economic development," she stated "But for all their contributions, still structural barriers curb their full participation in the economy. Our Government is committed to shattering such barriers and making an inclusive economic space where women can excel as business leaders, entrepreneurs, and exporters."

ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton reaffirmed the ITC's ongoing commitment to gender-sensitive trade policy. "Empowering women economically and achieving gender equality are daily objectives we must work towards. SheTrades Hubs, like this one, create an exceptional network that brings women-owned businesses the assistance they so rightfully deserve."

SheTrades Hubs are a force to be reckoned with, underlining the power of locally-driven solutions led by local actors. Since last year, these hubs have helped over 1,000 women-owned businesses from Kenya to Mauritius and Mongolia to Argentina.

EDB Chairman and CEO Mangala Wijesinghe underlined the role of the initiative in improving market access for women-owned businesses. He emphasized partnership, adding, "In the future, cooperation will be important. Government bodies, global development partners, financiers, and private sector business leaders must work together to make the SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub a lasting force for economic empowerment. Here is the chance to eliminate boundaries, facilitate growth that includes all, and design a future in which women business owners have a leading role to play in making Sri Lanka's exports thrive." Aside from its capacity-building activities, the Hub also promotes gender-responsive policies to open up trade rules and make them more accessible and beneficial to women entrepreneurs.

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick announced the UK's pledge to gender-inclusive economic growth, declaring that the SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub would facilitate women-led businesses to link with international markets and boost the economy of Sri Lanka.

In December 2023, a UK trade mission gathered 13 UK businesses with Sri Lankan women entrepreneurs creating over £100,000 of business leads. The ITC will also provide export training in Colombo from March 17 to 20. While Sri Lanka's service exports will grow in 2025, the SheTrades Sri Lanka Hub aims to empower women-owned enterprises and help the country grow economically.