Fostering Resilience of Women Led Businesses (including home-based women producers) and Consumers

This project: “Fostering Resilience of Women Led Businesses (including home-based women producers) and Consumers” is a 10-month project designed to help women-owned/led businesses (micro, small and medium enterprises – MSMEs), as well as home-based women producers across the country, cope with the impact of disasters with a primary focus on COVID-19 on their businesses. The project is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This project is implemented by Thulo.Com and Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform, and Gender Equality (EMERGE).

The project will not only focus on equipping them with the tools, knowledge, and resources for disaster preparedness but also on economic recovery and resilience. The project will be geared towards overcoming the difficulties in the disrupted supply chain, provide support and information on financing options and insurance schemes and offer a mobile application for MSME for disasters and disaster-related information. In addition, the project will also raise awareness on DRRM and contribute to enhancing the disaster resilience of the buyers/ customers by providing them information on DRRM and products/ services that help them in disaster preparedness.

The proposed activities will be implemented in close consultation and coordination with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies (MOICS)/ Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens (MOWCSC)/ Ministry of Finance (MOF), Local Governments, and women led business and other private sector actors.

Under one of the activities of the project, the project beneficiaries will be connected with Thulo.com for online promotion and sales. Therefore, UU online shop (https://thulo.com/uu) has been launched. It is a dedicated shop for products related to disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery that are produced by women entrepreneurs/producers from both the formal and informal sectors including home-based workers. The products are showcased under the categories shelter, health, wash, education, food, and feel-good products.