women and trade
Participant experiences and expert insights
Welcome to the Youth Talent Incubator Programme experience page. Here, participants share their personal journeys, insights, and the impact of the programme on their career goals through short video interviews. You’ll also find reflections from the Gender Research Hub experts who lead and mentor our participants, highlighting the importance of youth engagement in advancing inclusive trade and gender policies.
Voices of the youth – participants to the WTO Youth Talent Incubator programme
Brendan Chukwuebuka Ugwu, from Nigeria, founder of the Young African Policy Research Hub (YAPORH)
Mariz Abdou Kalliny, from Egypt, PHD candidate in Economics at CERDI Université Clermont Auvergne
Hunter Matson, from the UK, international trade policy strategist
Gabriela Mellafe, from Chile, researcher at the University of Chile
Harendra Singh, from India, law student and founder of LegalDST
Voices from members of the WTO Gender Research Hub
Tatiana Manolova, Professor, Bentley University. Tatiana is a lead in Pillar 2, Skills Enhancement and Capacity Building
In your view, why is it essential for young professionals to engage in trade and gender issues today? Trade can be a powerful tool to empower women as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, and decision makers, thus promoting gender equality and inclusive economic development. Young professionals should gain expertise in the complex connections between trade and gender, so they can actively advocate for, and contribute to inclusive trade initiatives and agreements.
Carmine Soprano, Senior Trade & Gender Specialist, World Bank Group. Carmine is a lead in Pillar 3, Networking.
What unique perspective or skill do you hope to impart to participants in the Youth Talent Incubator Programme? For about ten years now, I have been fortunate to work on a variety of analytical, policy, and operational projects on trade and gender within Multilateral Development Banks, UN agencies, and other international organizations, covering 20+ developing countries across four continents, plus multiple teaching engagements on the same. I sincerely hope such mix of professional and academic experience can be of help to Incubator participants, including in areas such as female entrepreneurship, small-scale trade facilitation, and mainstreaming gender into trade policies.
Adam Jakubik, International Monetary Fund, Economist. Adam is a lead in Pillar 1, Mentorship
How do you see programmes like the Youth Talent Incubator contributing to the future of inclusive trade policies? It is incumbent on the next generation of trade policy experts to lead on trade and gender and to mainstream new ideas. The Youth Talent Incubator helps foster a community, provides a platform to share experiences and to learn from each other.