WTO, ITC, ICC Announce Winners of Small Business Champions Competition

The World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) have announced winners and runners-up in the 2022 edition of its Small Business Champions Competition.

The winners were announced yesterday, during a virtual event organised by the Informal Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Launched on World MSMEs Day on 25 June 2022, the competition aims to find ways of helping small businesses reduce their carbon footprint and benefit from innovations regarding sustainability.

The two winners were the Association Professionnelle Accompagnements Valeurs Expertises Conseils (Benin) and Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

The two runners-up are Inclusive Trade Ltd (United Kingdom) and Sidley Austin Emerging Enterprises Pro Bono Program (Global). The winners and runners-up would be recognised at an event entitled Building Bridges organised by the ICC, ITC and the Informal Working Group to foster collaboration on sustainability issues, to be held in Geneva next month.

The winners were announced by H.E. Ambassador José-Luis Cancela, Coordinator of the Informal Working Group on MSMEs, ITC Deputy Executive Director Dorothy Tembo and ICC Representative Director Crispin Conroy.

The project by the Association Professionnelle Accompagnements Valeurs Expertises Conseils (Benin) aims to develop the capacity of Beninese MSMEs to undertake industrial decarbonisation practices.

Youssoufou Daoda Labot of the Association said: “The project supports small businesses working in the manufacturing industry, a rapidly growing sector in Benin. Six hundred industrial processing units, especially representing the small food industries, will be trained and equipped in lowering their CO2 emissions.”

Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture aims to raise awareness among businesses and policymakers through their Tanzania Go Green Project about the difficulties MSMEs encounter in relation to decarbonization.

Nebart Mwapwele of the Chamber of Commerce said: “Our major goal is enhancing green production for economic development and environmental sustainability. We will highlight best practices that are helping small businesses decarbonise their production and become more sustainable.

“We are planning a three-day capacity-building workshop in eight regions of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar and a green production summit with businesses, corporations, NGOs and international organisations.”

The project by Inclusive Trade Ltd aims to help MSMSs measure and report on their sustainability practices in global value chains by providing verification tools.

Rupa Ganguli of Inclusive Trade Ltd said: “With small businesses lacking access to sustainability and impact verification tools, the project will provide them with a self-assessment verification tool kit linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and train them to measure and report on their sustainability. This will enable them to start their trajectory to becoming the ‘green’ companies of the future and participate in global value chains.”

Launched in 2021 by the ICC, the ITC and the WTO Informal Working Group on MSMEs, the Small Business Champions Competition provides an annual opportunity for businesses, industry associations, chambers of commerce and non-governmental organisations to propose innovative, practical ways of helping small businesses play a more active role in world trade.