The International Trade Centre (ITC), through its SheTrades Initiative, has received an award for its work to open government purchasing to women-led businesses.
The ITC SheTrades Initiative won the Decision-Making & Value Chain Award at the 2026 FE+MALE Biennial Awards in Zurich, recognizing its leadership in advancing women’s access to public procurement contracts. The FE+MALE Think Tank works to turn research into concrete projects that close the gender gap in entrepreneurship.
Other winners include IKEA, which received the award for Modern Leadership and Culture, and iGravity, recognized for Catalyst Capital and Community Impact.
Public procurement is a powerful lever for inclusive growth. Yet women-led businesses capture only 1% of this trillion-dollar market. Gender-responsive public procurement (GRPP) works to change that by embedding inclusion into procurement systems, so women can compete for and win government contracts.
ITC launched a global campaign on GRPP in 2024, winning high-level commitment from governments and international organizations. To date, 24 countries and institutions have rallied behind the campaign, signalling strong political will to open public procurement opportunities to women-led businesses.
Countries taking action: Opening public markets to women
Governments across the world are turning their commitments into policy, with ITC support.
In the Dominican Republic, a landmark legal reform in 2025 set aside 30% of public procurement for small businesses, up from 20%. Now 10% is reserved for women-led businesses.
In Ecuador, procurement laws now include preferential treatment for women entrepreneurs, with standard definitions for women-led businesses. Nearly 3,000 women have received ITC training on how to participate in procurement processes.
In Bangladesh, the Sustainable Public Procurement Policy 2023 and the Public Procurement Rules 2025 reserve 25% of procurement budgets for small businesses, women-owned businesses and new enterprises. That’s a direct result of sustained ITC support since 2020.
In The Gambia and Nigeria, inclusive procurement policies have been developed with clear action plans and efforts to track results that ensure impact. This points to a growing pipeline of upcoming approvals and announcements.
Looking ahead
ITC will continue to scale its support. We call on governments and partners to turn commitments into concrete results. We invite more countries to join us in advancing gender-responsive public procurement. Through our work with governments and peer learning on international platforms, including the World Trade Organization, ITC will work to ensure that public spending delivers real opportunities for women-led businesses everywhere.