How to Boost SME Sales through Digital Channels - West Africa Connect
Connecting West African textile and garment suppliers and ICT services with buyers from Africa, Europe and North America
As part of the industry insights element of the Virtual B2B networking event, Sarah helped SME’s to understand more about the opportunities that digital channels offer for growing sales. She also highlighted the main pitfalls and top success factors in digital global growth, which are some of the key learnings from her book ‘Grow Fast, Grow Global’.
Here’s more about the key aspects of the event:
Organiser: West Africa Connect, as part of the West Africa Competitiveness Programme, WACOMP which is implemented with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC)
Objective: To boost trade by bringing together textile and garments suppliers and ICT service providers from 16 West African countries and carefully chosen buyers from Africa, Europe and North America. The initiative created an environment in which to discover the best from West Africa and also learn from experts in the industry.
West Africa Connect hosted a large number of events over the 2 days. Top experts shared their knowledge about the current issues and trends in the textiles and garments industry and international guest speakers delivered masterclasses on innovative solutions and the use of technology.
Sarah’s talk title: The Use of E-commerce in the Textile and Garments Supply Chain. How to Boost SME E-commerce Sales through Digital Channels.
Event date: 16 November 2021
Location: Virtual
Language: This webinar will take place in English with simultaneous interpretation into French
Duration: 45 minutes
Event type: Webinar
Profile of audience: B2C and B2B suppliers and buyers within the West African textiles and garments industry.
Top 5 takeaways:
Internet explosion = Opportunity explosion - the digital world is changing and there are millions of customers online, with the shift being from west to east globally
Avoid digital invisibility - visibility around the international digital world is crucial
Drive online sales with digital marketing channels - your products won’t get seen without marketing
You have to be world class before you grow globally - you need to have a solid digital foundation on which to build your international growth
Digital is an investment in the future - it’s not a cost to the business
Other speakers:
The two-day event involved many amazing speakers and experts, too many to list here so below are some of the experts involved in the more digital aspects of the event.
Mrs. Fatou Diagne, Fashionomics, African Development Bank
Mr. Rafik Feki, Industrial Development Officer, Department of Digitization, Technology and Innovation, UNIDO
Mr Yared Befecadu, Programme Manager WACOMP - International Trade Centre (ITC)
Marco Kamiya, Chief, Innovation and Digitization Division, UNIDO
Moderator - Mr. Bastien Chesnoy, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)