(Last Updated on February 11, 2016 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – Twenty female entrepreneurs from Zimbabwe will leave the country Saturday for a a week-long trade visit to exchange ideas their Dutch business counterparts, in the Netherlands.
Organized by the Embassy of the Netherlands in partnership with ZimTrade , Zimbabwe’s trade promotion organisation, the trade visit will draw entrepreneurs from different sectors including agriculture and horticulture, events management and waste management.
Deputy Head Of Mission Anne-Sietske Brinks said the trade mission is important as it will create sustainable capacity for the female entrepreneurs, while showcasing what Zimbabwe has to offer international markets.
“The trade visit has different components there is a training element to it, which for a day the business women will be practicing elevated pitches and on-line marketing, there will be visiting companies in the Netherlands that have shown interest in their products or possibly partnering with them, they will be match making there will be themed dinners around innovations and new guidelines for import so what we trying to do is to make a complete program for them in order to enhance the bilateral trade between the two countries,” said Brinks.
Asked why the trade delegation comprised only women, Brinks said the trade visit’s aims were two fold, firstly to promote trade between the two countries in line with the Aid Trade Agenda the Dutch government adopted a few years ago.
“Besides stimulating trade, we wanted to advance the position of women within Zimbabwe, and while progress has been made over the past years there remains a lot of space for further improving the opportunities for women across the country,” said Brinks.
“To further these goals the selected female entrepreneurs have been selected to come to the Netherlands and experience first-hand how we do business. We really hope this will lead to more co-operation between Dutch and Zimbabwean companies,” Brinks added.
Further, Brinks said the Dutch mission selected entrepreneurs with thriving businesses in sectors that were relevant to the Netherlands and that would be agriculture and horticulture, food and creative industry and these are three industries the Dutch Government has labelled top sector.
“We expect the trade mission will lead to a win/win situation where Dutch expertise means Zimbabwean needs and vice versa, and there are also companies from the construction industry, and travel and tours amongst others,” concluded Brinks.