With technical and financial support that the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) secured from the Embassy of Denmark in Addis Ababa, preparatory workshop was organized at Elilly International Hotel, Addis Ababa for four days, April 17 to 20, 2018, where all the participants were accommodated at the hotel.





Participants of this workshop were CAWEE members involved in the three sectors of: Coffee, Leather and Gemstone & Jewelry. The training workshop was aimed at equipping potential participants with basic knowledge on the Danish markets and how best they need to prepare themselves for that.


The training workshop was officially opened by the Ambassador of Denmark to Ethiopia, H. E. Mette Thygesen, who was present at Elilly Hotel to welcome the trainees, where she underlined that:


  • The training is organized by the support secured from the Government of Denmark to help female entrepreneurs in the three sectors identified,
  • To help them to get detailed information concerning the Danish market and
  • To create a clear vision about the Danish Market so that the delegation members travelling to Denmark will be more prepared and organized for the planned trade mission and trade fairs. 


H. E. Ambassador Mette delivering her welcoming address  



Following the remarks made by the Ambassador, the Executive Director of CAWEE, Mrs. Nigest, also delivered her remarks, by thanking the Ambassador herself and the entire Embassy team in all their support in facilitating the technical and financial support in organizing this preparatory workshop and the trade mission to Denmark. She further underlined that a lot is going to be invested on the potential trainees and that the trainees need to take advantage of that in carefully preparing themselves to grab every opportunity to bring out results in the planned trade mission to Denmark.




            Mrs. Nigest delivering her remarks   



The training was facilitated by Ms. Lisbet Fich a Networking Consultant who came from Denmark for this particular preparatory workshop and also following the training to visit the respective companies of the potential participants, to be able to provide on the spot advise and to screen and come out with the final list of the companies that will be travelling to Denmark for the trade show. Ms. Lisbet will further be involved in working on the preparations for the trade missions, which is agreed to take place on May 2018 for the participants in the coffee sector and in August 2018 for the participants involved in leather and gemstones & jewelry.


The preparatory training mainly focused on the following three topics:

  • The Business Environment,
  • The Product,
  • The Sale and the Buyer.

The training mainly focused on introducing a window for entry to the Danish market, focusing on marketing strategies, so that the participants will be aware and be prepared before they go to the trade mission, ultimately to make themselves ready to meet potential buyers.




                       Trainees in group discussions                                                      



The training was organized holding different activities like: exercises, presentations, roll plays and so on, where trainees were given the opportunity to present their products, work on their company profiles, role plays in meeting a potential buyer, exercising one minute elevator speech and getting feedback on their presentations.





   Trainees’ actively engaged during the preparatory workshop


CAWEE members who were involved in the training were also engaged in group discussions in each of their respective sectors, which was an opportunity to each one of them to share their experiences, talk about the weaknesses and strengths that they faced, which gave them a learning experience. The participants underlined that the preparatory workshop was really helpful to them in many ways, to have an insight of the overseas market and to think outside the box. The participants further underlined that that they have never been equipped like this and prepared in such a way before being involved in a trade mission, which all of them sincerely appreciated all those concerned ones who are involved in this process.




        Trainees in their respective sectors in meetings    




         Potential participants of the trade mission with the organizers