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Strengthening E-commerce for Women-led MSMEs in Djibouti
📅 Date: 26 July 2026
🏷️ Theme: E-commerce | Women-led MSMEs | Digital Skills | Creative Industries | Agrifood
The ESCWA Technology Centre met with the Ministry of Investment and Private Sector Development in Djibouti to discuss collaboration on advancing e-commerce for women-led MSMEs. The meeting explored opportunities to strengthen women's economic participation by supporting women entrepreneurs in the creative and handicrafts sectors and the agrifood sector, enabling them to expand their digital presence and improve access to local, regional, and international markets through e-commerce.
The discussion focused on a two-component intervention:
- Capacity-building for women-led MSMEs: Deliver practical training on e-commerce, digital skills, and AI tools tailored to women entrepreneurs in the creative and handicrafts sectors and the agrifood sector, enabling them to establish their own online stores or effectively market and sell their products through existing digital marketplaces.
- National e-commerce readiness assessment: Assess Djibouti's e-commerce ecosystem through a comprehensive framework covering digital payment systems, logistics, digital infrastructure, internet accessibility, cybersecurity, and the regulatory environment. The assessment will be complemented by stakeholder consultations to validate findings, identify key gaps and challenges, and develop evidence-based, gender-responsive policy recommendations to strengthen the national e-commerce ecosystem and enhance the participation of women-led businesses.
ESCWA Technology Centre Contribution
The ESCWA Technology Centre presented its regional approach to strengthening e-commerce ecosystems, including:
- Capacity-building programmes on e-commerce, digital skills, and AI tools tailored for women-led MSMEs.
- Technical support for conducting national e-commerce readiness assessments across key ecosystem dimensions.
- Facilitation of multi-stakeholder consultations to identify barriers, validate findings, and build consensus.
- Development of evidence-based, gender-responsive policy recommendations to strengthen the enabling environment for e-commerce and promote women's economic participation.
Partners: Ministry of Investment and Private Sector Development (Djibouti)