WTO PUBLIC FORUM
WTO PUBLIC FORUM
Fashioning a cultural shift through digital innovation by empowering SMEs, women entrepreneurs and artisans to move from "lowest price" to "highest value"
WTO PUBLIC FORUM 2017
Session : 52
Time : 14:00 15:30
Date : 27 September 2017
Room : D
Organiser(s) : SPINNA Circle Ltd.
The emergence of digital innovation including Blockchain and mobile payment technology, together with the growth of e-commerce platforms focused on selling independent fashion brands, has seen a slow consistent shift looking ‘beyond’ the price. While business to consumer (b2c) is starting to change, the larger aspect of international trade is business to business (b2b) where SMEs, women entrepreneurs and artisans are still unable to access markets. This could be explained by lack of direct market access and various costs incurred through conventional supply chains.
Moving from ‘lowest price’ to a demand for ‘highest value’ will have great impact on making trade a reality for those who remain hidden ‘behind the headlines’. The panel will discuss current trends, specific challenges that persist for SMEs, women entrepreneurs and artisans in remote locations. The multi-stakeholder panel will include representatives from digital innovators, government, procurement, e-commerce, SMEs, mobile payment and logistics, and include case studies, share insights and offer tangible solutions.
Panel discussion:
Session : 52
Time : 14:00 15:30
Date : 27 September 2017
Room : D
Organiser(s) : SPINNA Circle Ltd.
The emergence of digital innovation including Blockchain and mobile payment technology, together with the growth of e-commerce platforms focused on selling independent fashion brands, has seen a slow consistent shift looking ‘beyond’ the price. While business to consumer (b2c) is starting to change, the larger aspect of international trade is business to business (b2b) where SMEs, women entrepreneurs and artisans are still unable to access markets. This could be explained by lack of direct market access and various costs incurred through conventional supply chains.
Moving from ‘lowest price’ to a demand for ‘highest value’ will have great impact on making trade a reality for those who remain hidden ‘behind the headlines’. The panel will discuss current trends, specific challenges that persist for SMEs, women entrepreneurs and artisans in remote locations. The multi-stakeholder panel will include representatives from digital innovators, government, procurement, e-commerce, SMEs, mobile payment and logistics, and include case studies, share insights and offer tangible solutions.
Panel discussion:
- Matthew Drinkwater, Head, Fashion Innovation Agency, Centre for Fashion Enterprise (UK)
- Rupa Ganguli, Founder, SPINNA Circle Ltd, UK
- Manisha Mohan, Scientist, MIT Media Lab, USA
- Amit Jay Shah, CEO, HIROLA Group, UK
- Myriam Said, Founding partner, Kifiya Financial Technology Plc.
- Moderator: Lucy Hockings, Presenter, BBC World News, UK
Leading the way for inclusive trade through innovation in fashion and textiles: can women entrepreneurs become the norm rather than an exception?
WTO PUBLIC FORUM 2016
Session : 67
Time : 9:00-10:30
Date : 29 September 2016
Room : S3
Organiser(s) : SPINNA Circle Ltd.
Leading the way for inclusive trade through innovation in fashion and textiles: can women entrepreneurs become the norm rather than an exception?
The fashion and textiles industry is a global business staffed predominantly by a female labour force, but only a minority of these women have decision-making or managerial power to effect change in the ways that international trade can positively impact lives.
The session aims to bring together multi party stakeholders from the fashion and textiles industry, government and academia and representative case studies from female entrepreneurs working in diverse contexts from Guatemala to Myanmar. The panel will discuss the current situation and the visibility or lack of women leaders in international trade in fashion and textiles sector, suggest ways and examples of how this could be changed, share insights into new and upcoming research trends and best practises that could change the way business runs today, making way for more inclusive global trade and share perspectives on how to encourage, discuss key policy initiatives that could be tangibly adopted and technology solutions that could enable and empower women to grow their businesses into truly global power houses.
Lucy Hockings, Lucy Hockings, BBC News anchor, host of GMT
Speakers
• Win Ei Khine (Winnie), Executive Director, Maple Trading Co. Ltd, Yangon, Myanmar, also on the executive committee of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA)
• Dilobar Sanginova, Founder, PO “Women Development Agency”, (WDA) Khujand city, Republic of Tajikistan
• Rupa Ganguli, Founder and Director, SPINNA Circle, London, UK
• Dr. Rajesh Bheda, Principal and CEO, RBC ltd. New Delhi, India
• Elsbeth Akkerman, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the WTO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Mirvette Russo, Senior industry sourcing and investment specialist, ex Dewhirst, London, UK
• Sarah Samuels, Business Operations Manager, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, Washington DC, USA
• Belinda Edmonds Offord, Executive Director, African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF), Cape Town, South Africa (Pan Africa)
• Arianne Engelberg, Marketing Director, The New Denim Project, Iris Textiles, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Session : 67
Time : 9:00-10:30
Date : 29 September 2016
Room : S3
Organiser(s) : SPINNA Circle Ltd.
Leading the way for inclusive trade through innovation in fashion and textiles: can women entrepreneurs become the norm rather than an exception?
The fashion and textiles industry is a global business staffed predominantly by a female labour force, but only a minority of these women have decision-making or managerial power to effect change in the ways that international trade can positively impact lives.
The session aims to bring together multi party stakeholders from the fashion and textiles industry, government and academia and representative case studies from female entrepreneurs working in diverse contexts from Guatemala to Myanmar. The panel will discuss the current situation and the visibility or lack of women leaders in international trade in fashion and textiles sector, suggest ways and examples of how this could be changed, share insights into new and upcoming research trends and best practises that could change the way business runs today, making way for more inclusive global trade and share perspectives on how to encourage, discuss key policy initiatives that could be tangibly adopted and technology solutions that could enable and empower women to grow their businesses into truly global power houses.
Lucy Hockings, Lucy Hockings, BBC News anchor, host of GMT
Speakers
• Win Ei Khine (Winnie), Executive Director, Maple Trading Co. Ltd, Yangon, Myanmar, also on the executive committee of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA)
• Dilobar Sanginova, Founder, PO “Women Development Agency”, (WDA) Khujand city, Republic of Tajikistan
• Rupa Ganguli, Founder and Director, SPINNA Circle, London, UK
• Dr. Rajesh Bheda, Principal and CEO, RBC ltd. New Delhi, India
• Elsbeth Akkerman, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the WTO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Mirvette Russo, Senior industry sourcing and investment specialist, ex Dewhirst, London, UK
• Sarah Samuels, Business Operations Manager, Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, Washington DC, USA
• Belinda Edmonds Offord, Executive Director, African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF), Cape Town, South Africa (Pan Africa)
• Arianne Engelberg, Marketing Director, The New Denim Project, Iris Textiles, Guatemala City, Guatemala
