Women-owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which make up an estimated one fifth of the Ugandan economy in terms of employment, are likely to suffer disproportionately as a consequence of this outbreak. As Zimba Women, we have introduced the SME E-Commerce and Digitization Resilience Programme through the Zimba Mart e-commerce platform to respond to this challenge by (1) Identifying women-owned or women-led SMEs which have fundamentally sound value propositions but have been severely impacted by COVID-19; (2) Providing dedicated COVID-19 impact analysis and contingency planning to these SMEs through offering business training and digital literacy training via our online platforms; (3) On-boarding SMEs onto the women-owned, women-tailored e-commerce platform to both adjust to the market dynamics created by COVID-19 lock down actions and begin to take advantage of the latent market opportunities offered by e-commerce in Sub-Saharan Africa; and (4) Provide bespoke follow-on support to the women-owners/leaders to enable them to protect their enterprises and take full advantage of e-commerce opportunities. All support is also provided remotely when necessary.

https://www.zimbamart.com/

• Kenya
• Uganda

• Women
• Zimba Mart focuses specifically on women.

Yes, this project can be replicated. Zimba Women is currently working with over 10000 women-owned businesses and women in STEM in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and other African countries. These women have received business training and digital literacy training through our technology platforms. Through the Zimba Mart e-commerce platform powered by Zimba Women,70% of women have been able to earn additional income for their families because they can market to buyers outside their community. They also get fair pricing because Zimba Mart enables them to deal directly with the customer instead of unscrupulous middlemen. The Zimba Mart targets up to 1,000,000 of the 6,000,000 million Ugandans with access to the internet. We have seen first-hand the impact these improved businesses have had in the lives of these women. With stronger finances, they have been able to improve lives for their families like better education, better nutrition and better healthcare. This same model can be replicated within other female-oriented business communities in other countries because access to larger markets is a huge motivating factor for self-employment and entrepreneurship for women in Africa.

Yes, this project is sustainable in the sense that the different Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)on boarded onto the platform shall continue to receive businesses development trainings from the Zimba Women consultants and professionals. From these trainings, the female vendors will understand how to ensure product quality and in turn there will be an increase in demand for their goods in areas beyond their current network reach. As the community of female led SMEs grows in Uganda, so does the number of women vendors increase on the platform. Our women have a higher propensity to use their earnings and increased bargaining power to buy goods and services that improve family welfare which creates a virtuous cycle: female spending supports the development of human capital, which fuels economic growth in the years ahead. In terms of economic sustainability, there will be increased flexibility towards achieving the consumer’s requirements as a results of these trainings. The female vendors shall also have access to a global reach of consumers whom they would not have had access to via offline channels. The Zimba Mart platform also aims at achieving social sustainability through bringing more women that were previously marginalized from the labor market into the formal workplace and equipping them with digital literacy skills. There will also be a link between the Ugandan market as a developing country and other developed countries. In turn, this will expose the vendors to a global pool of consumers.

We have adopted the use of e-commerce digital tools which have presented numerous opportunities. Africa is a massive market, with a growing population of 1.28 billion people, a network of over 15 million SMEs and merchants and a rising internet connection of 453 million users. Research firm Statista estimates that the e-commerce sector in Africa generated $16.5 billion in revenue in 2017 and forecasts that to grow to $29 billion by 2022. In general, and during lock down, SMEs on-boarded on the Zimba Mart platform have benefited from adopting an e-commerce approach in a number of ways, including lower transaction costs; reduction in advertising and promotion costs; rapid communication between buyers and sellers; ability to reach new customers; shorter supply chains; and eliminating physical limitations. Due to this; we have moved most of our women trainings online to enable the on boarded SMEs learn how e-commerce is enabling their business growth and to encourage them to update their social and business pages to take advantage of the increased traffic to their sites due to the Zimba mart. The Zimba mart has also given us more visibility as we have customers from not only Kampala our main office location, Eastern and Western Uganda but also as far as the US from customers making food orders for their families in Uganda.