Project Name：Women’s Microenterprise Mentoring and Capacity Building Project in Eswatini

Project status：Projects in Operation

Cooperating Country：Kingdom of Eswatini

Project Description：

According to the official data of Eswatini, there are 59,283 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the country, whose output value accounts for about 60% of GDP, of which 84% are micro-enterprises, and the majority of these enterprises are owned by female entrepreneurs. The development of MSMEs has been identified by the government as a key point for economic development. The implementation of this project will help to improve women's micro-enterprises through business counseling and mentoring. Therefore, this will improve the performance of the micro-enterprises in rural areas, leading to increased income and sustainability. The key points of the implementation of this project plan include: (1) Micro-enterprise capacity building; (2) Improving the capacity of micro-enterprise training and counseling institutions; (3) Providing funds needed for the development of micro-enterprises in Eswatini, to assist in strengthening the counselling and mentoring capabilities for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, thus improving people's livelihood and as well as national economic development.

Region：Africa

Implementation Start Date：2023-10-20

Implementation End Date：2027-12-31

Project Objectives：

For the average operating profit of 240 micro and small enterprises assisted by the program to have increased by at least 40% compared with before the program intervention.

Executing Agency：

Taiwan Technical Mission in Kingdom of Eswatini; Eswatini Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade;  Co-operative College of Eswatini (ECODEC); Small Enterprises Development Company(SEDCO)

Current Progress：

By the end of March 2024, the following activities have been implemented:

1. Complete the selection of project beneficiaries

2. Complete 50% of the planned training course goals.

3. KUYENTEKA Credit Cooperative has completed the planning and has obtained a business license and started operations. It is also currently the executive unit of the Revolving Fund.

4. Cooperate with the 2024 GCTF activities, International Women’s Day and other activities to increase the exposure of planned training and promotion activities and various media channels.

5. Planning and starting operations of the  Revolving Fund. As of the end of March, 33 application cases had been submitted, and 9  applications had been completed, with a total amount of E175,950.45.

6. Complete the social impact assessment workshop.

Project Contact：Wang, Yen-Chih

Phone：028886054

E-mail：y.j.wang@icdf.org.tw