EU-ITC Ready4Trade project helps Uzbekistan businesses reach $108,000 in online sales

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – The International Trade Centre’s European Union-funded Ready4Trade Central Asia project today celebrates interim results of its e-commerce component with a certification event for its participating small businesses. 

With the European Union Delegation to Uzbekistan and in partnership with the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade, ITC will award 21 artisans who have completed the project’s foundational course in e-commerce. 

Collectively they have achieved online sales of around $108,000 since they joined the programme, opened or improved their online channels. Before the programme, most of the micro producers had limited digital skills and lacked online sales experience. 

ITC trained a pilot group of small businesses, many of which are micro producers on how to launch their first online channels and achieve sustainable sales: from identification of markets and customers, developing value propositions, onboarding online platforms, connecting with payments and logistics providers to engaging in customer support and digital marketing. 

Overall, 40 businesses from 12 regions in Uzbekistan participated in the programme, 16 of which are led by women. Coming from the textile and garments, food and handicraft sectors, they were supported over a period of 1.5 years and received individual coaching sessions from ITC-trained national advisors.

The initiative is implemented in collaboration with the national partner – the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade. 

At the event, five national coaches will be certified as ITC e-commerce advisers and will continue to amplify the knowledge on digital trade beyond the pilot group after the project end date. 

“There is strong demand for ethically made handicraft products among international customers. Yet, there are limitations in artisans’ reach of international audiences as not all global platforms dedicated to handicrafts are operational in Central Asia. In the next phase of Ready4Trade Central Asia, we will work with international partners to create an artisan empowerment hub to better connect Central Asian artisans to international demand,” Annabel Sykes, International e-commerce expert, International Trade Centre, said.

“Being part of the EU-funded Ready4Trade project gave me the opportunity to learn, gain new knowledge, explore new business opportunities, and discover new target markets. Through the coaching programme, I expanded my knowledge on how to build an e-commerce strategy, do market research, identify potential customers and target audience, create e-commerce content, evaluate and select payment and logistics providers, and promote my business online,” Feruz Temirov, founder of FeruzArt and participant of the coaching programme, who opened his first store on eBay international marketplace, noted.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, many physical stores closed in Uzbekistan and artisans were left without sales. The Ready4Trade Central Asia project helped many of our artisans open online stores on Etsy and eBay and trained them on how to sell online. Before joining Ready4Trade, my monthly sales on Etsy were between $2,000 and $3,000. After joining Etsy eLab and the subsequent optimization of my e-shop, my sales increased to $5,000 in January 2022. And the best thing: we have become a Star Seller on Etsy in February 2022,” Abduvali Abdukayumov, founder of BahmalUZ and e-commerce national coach, underlined.