ICC-ITC-WTO MSME Group Small Business Champions

Background

Although MSMEs account for the majority of global businesses, they make up a relatively small share of international trade. Lack of resources and access to relevant information are among the barriers that restrict MSME participation in world trade. Helping MSMEs to trade internationally can increase business productivity and competitiveness as well as support inclusivity.

2024: Empowering Indigenous Peoples' Economic Development through International Trade

International trade can provide opportunities and lead to innovation for businesses of every size and there is growing national and international effort to support trade by Indigenous Peoples. For example, IPECTA 2021, the purpose of which is to strengthen indigenous economic empowerment in the Asia Pacific region, and more recently the 2023 United Kingdom – New Zealand trade agreement, which contains the world's first comprehensive Māori Trade and Economic Cooperation chapter. International trade can help provide economic opportunity to some disproportionately marginalized indigenous peoples as well as bring awareness about these unique cultures to all people around the world

The call for proposals was announced on 12 February 2024. All proposals must be submitted by 26 April 2024.

Previous competitions

• In 2023, the Small Business Champion Competition focused on ways to support smallholder farmers to participate in international trade. Three winners, COPROGENY (Philippines), HeySuccess Virtual Assistance Services (Philippines), and Divasity.com (Nigeria), were awarded on 27 June  2023 . Please see here for more information on the winning projects and a YouTube video of the ceremony.
  More information on the 2023 Helpking smallholder farmers go global initiative is available here.

• In 2022, the aim of the competition was to find ways of helping small businesses reduce their carbon footprint and benefit from sustainability innovations. Two winners, A.V.E.C (Benin) and TCCIA (Tanzania) and two runners-up, Inclusive Trade Ltd (United Kingdom) and Sidley Austin Emerging Enterprises Pro Bono Program (Global), were awarded on 26 September  2022 . Please see here for more information on the winning projects and a YouTube video of the ceremony.
  More information on the 2022 Helping small businesses transition to a sustainable economy initiative is available here.

• The first Small Business Champions Competition took place in 2021. It focused on helping MSMEs go digital and increase their participation in international trade. Four winners were announced in December 2021: the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia, the Lima Chamber of Commerce (Peru), TAITRA (Chinese Taipei) and TofaraOnline (Zimbabwe). Videos of the four winners are available here.
  More information on the 2021 Digital Champions for Small Business initiative is available here.

• The Small Business Champions initiative was previously co-organized by the WTO and the International Chamber of Commerce. That initiative came to an end in 2018