The ECOWAS Small Business Coalition (ESBC) has praised the ECOWAS Commission’s Private Sector Directorate for its role in empowering women traders across West Africa. The recognition comes on the heels of the successful ECOWAS Caravan 2025, a regional initiative aimed at transforming cross-border trade for women and small businesses.
Dr. Abdulrashid Yerima, President of the ESBC, hailed the Caravan as a “transformational milestone” that united regional actors, partners, and delegates to confront shared trade challenges and unlock new opportunities for inclusive growth.
He commended the ECOWAS Commission for its strategic leadership, particularly through the Private Sector Directorate, which he said played a pivotal role in coordinating resources, facilitating partnerships, and driving advocacy for women-led enterprises.
“The ECOWAS Caravan 2025 was more than just a series of events. It was a movement that spotlighted the barriers women face in cross-border trade while breathing new life into efforts to dismantle them,” Yerima stated. “The bridges we build today become the trade routes of tomorrow’s prosperity.”
Yerima added that the Caravan strengthened regional policy dialogue, forged new alliances, and boosted the resolve of stakeholders to create a more supportive environment for small and informal traders.
He urged that the ideas generated during the Caravan be converted into long-term regional initiatives and policy reforms to ease trade, remove bottlenecks, and create prosperity for women entrepreneurs across the region.
The ECOWAS Caravan 2025 forms part of broader efforts to realise the ECOWAS Vision 2050, which champions economic integration, private sector development, and gender inclusion in West Africa.
