WACOMP WEEKLY: The week in Review

This week, the ECOWAS Commission, with the support of our technical implementing partner, International Trade Centre (ITC), launched another series of e-learning courses in support of Business Support Organizations (BSO) as well as Trade Promotion Organizations (TPO) across West Africa.

The e-learning courses will provide access to pragmatic, topical online courses and learning material on a range of trade-related topics through SME Trade Academy.

Also, the International Trade Centre (ITC) had a series of Access to Finance Virtual Training for selected stakeholders across West Africa from 12^th to 14^th October 2020. The training focused on “Business and financial diagnostics to estimate Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs) weaknesses and financial needs”, Business & Financial Education online training, upskilling SME Development Agencies with the financial tools and instruments necessary to drive SME competitiveness in the region.

On the national level, WACOMP Ghana continued the E-marketing online tutorial, where participants of the training were taught how to properly optimize their e-commerce pages.

Also, on the 13^th of October 2020, there was a meeting with the actors of the cassava value chain, to assist them on the implementation of standards and other certification to facilitate their progress towards increased competitiveness

On the 15^th of October 2020, WACOMP Ghana held a webinar on tips to creating engaging digital content for SMEs, this is after an affirmation that 94% of marketers use social media for content distribution.

On the 16^th of October 16, 2020, WACOMP Ghana held a food safety systems webinar which emphasized the benefits of applying the principles of International Standards.

In Guinea, on the 10^th of October, 25 pineapple producers in Kindia received hands-on training on pineapple vegetative growth retardation and other necessary cultural practices to boost the competitiveness of the pineapple value chains.

On the 12^th of October, 30 pineapple farmers from Maferinyah started the theoretical and practical training on the delayed flowering in pineapple and good agricultural practices.

After the training, Mrs Nathalie Mane, a pineapple producer mentioned that the training taught her how to reduce production cost and promote a better yield of pineapple.