Barbadian Tamara Gibson, a small business owner of Native Caribbean Candles, was able to showcase her business today, via Zoom, at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Working Group on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
This was the first ‘MSME Spotlight’ agenda, which was chaired by Barbados’ Ambassador to the United Nations, WTO and other international organisations, in Geneva, Rome and Vienna, Matthew Wilson.
In his role as Ambassador to the WTO, Mr. Wilson initiated this new ‘MSME Spotlight’ in response to requests to showcase entrepreneurs and discuss how trade rules could be improved to help these businesses enter international trade.
Ms. Gibson, founder of Native Caribbean Candles, which has its physical store in Pelican Village, Bridgetown, showcased her product offerings while also highlighting the importance of effective trade rules in helping to get her product to regional and international markets.
From issues about standards to the cost of shipping, Ms. Gibson urged WTO members to keep MSMEs at the centre of their minds as they negotiated trade policy.
Ambassador Wilson noted that the WTO member states of the working group not only welcomed this opportunity to engage directly with MSMEs, but expressed support and admiration for the journey that Ms. Gibson had taken to become a successful entrepreneur.
In-person attendees were also able to see and smell some of Native Caribbean Candles’ products, as Ambassador Wilson had created a display booth at the meeting.
In addition to the ‘MSME Spotlight’ segment, the day’s proceedings opened with a supportive statement from the newly appointed WTO Deputy Director General, Johanna Hill, of El Salvador. There was also a presentation on the International Trade Centre’s new report on ‘Small Business in Fragility, from Survival to Growth’, and a discussion on the role of MSME Provisions in Regional Trade agreements, and MSMEs and cooperatives, as presented by Chile.
The meeting also drew the attention of policymakers and small businesses to the Trade4MSMES platform and the Trade Game.
On December 13, 2017, at the 11th Ministerial Conference, 88 WTO Members, representing all major regions and levels of development, established the Informal Working Group on MSMEs. In their Joint Ministerial Statement, the “Friends of MSMEs” committed to discussing and identifying “horizontal and non-discriminatory solutions” to improve the participation of MSMEs in international trade while considering the specific needs of developing economies.
Today there are 98 members, including Barbados, and the Working Group has been led by Ambassador Wilson since April 2023.