Twenty- six participants which included women and youth were beneficiary from a six days capacity building training seminars hosted by Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) from the period 4th -12th September engaging in a series of agro-processing topics which focused on product development, food safety, standards, marketing/labelling & branding, and Social Media/ITC.
In addition to the training the proprietor from Antilles Stillhouse made a presentation which is a component under the mentorship activity under the project.
The presentation focused on how his business started while highlighting the challenges SMEs faced in the local market. T
he activities concluded on Wednesday 13th September with a market study field trip to the Gourmet Basket Supermarket which climaxed with the beneficiaries displaying their products while receiving useful information regarding the standard requirements for local entrepreneurs for supermarkets.
During the market study Mr. Henk Davis, Manager and Ms. Coreen Samuel, Chief Operations Officer at the Gourmet Basket were visibly impressed with the agro-products presented and offered additional advice to those in attendance. Mr. Davis further encouraged them to get the necessary labels and barcodes in place.
He assured the entrepreneurs that his establishment would love to have their products on their shelves. This was indeed a motivation and a guarantee of a sure market for locally made products such as wines, soaps, pepper sauce, seasoned salts and dried fruits.
The project was conceptualized and designed to assist and support female and youth owned and operated micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) within the agriculture and fisheries sectors.
This would enable these businesses to be more competitive and secure more market opportunities.
Under the theme, “Building Effective Resilience for Human Security in the Caribbean Countries: The Imperative of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in a Strengthened Agriculture (and related Agri/Fisheries Small Business) Sector”, the very informed and satisfied participants unanimously agreed that it was time well spent and it gave them the opportunity to harvest more training and insights.
The activities were a collaborative effort between private and public stakeholders who contributed to the execution of the project.
The funding provided under the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security UN Women, through a collaborative effort with UNWomen, International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Organization of the United Nations is a strong advocate of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.
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