Online Reporter
Features Writer
FOR a woman selling vegetables at a border market, running a small clothing business, processing agricultural produce or trying to take her products beyond her country’s borders, regional integration may sound like a distant policy discussion reserved for governments and economists.
But behind the technical language of trade agreements, customs procedures and regional markets is a very practical reality: regional integration can determine whether a woman is able to grow her business, find new customers and improve the livelihood of her family.
This is where the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) becomes particularly important.
With 21 member states, COMESA is one of Africa’s major regional economic communities. Its broader objective is to promote regional integration and create a larger, more competitive economic space in which goods, services, capital and labour can move more freely across borders.
For women, however, the significance of COMESA goes beyond trade statistics.
It is increasingly about ensuring that women are not left on the margins of the regional economy.
Women across the COMESA region are deeply involved in agriculture, informal businesses, small enterprises and cross-border trade.
Yet their contribution has not always translated into equal access to finance, markets, information, technology, land and decision-making spaces.
COMESA itself acknowledges these structural barriers. Its Gender Policy identifies women’s limited access to education, skills, land, credit and decision-making structures as major challenges that need to be addressed.
This recognition is important because women cannot benefit from regional integration simply because borders become easier to cross.
They need the resources, information, skills and protection required to participate meaningfully in the economy.
COMESA’s gender agenda therefore seeks to integrate gender considerations into its policies, programmes and institutions while supporting women’s participation in areas such as trade, agriculture, private-sector development, infrastructure, investment, science and technology.
For women entrepreneurs, this can translate into something tangible: a bigger market and more opportunities to earn.
Opening the door to regional markets
One of the biggest advantages COMESA offers women is access to a wider market.
A woman who produces clothing, food products, crafts, processed agricultural goods or other merchandise is no longer limited to customers within her immediate community.
Regional integration creates the possibility of selling beyond national borders.
This is particularly significant for women operating small businesses, because expanding the customer base can mean increased sales, greater income and the potential to employ other people.
COMESA’s trade programmes are designed to remove or reduce some of the barriers that make regional commerce difficult, including physical, technical, fiscal and monetary barriers. The organisation’s stated objective is to create a more integrated economic space with a wider and more competitive market.
For women-owned businesses, that larger market can provide an opportunity to move from survivalist entrepreneurship to growth-oriented enterprise.
Making cross-border trade easier
Perhaps nowhere is COMESA’s relevance to women more visible than in small-scale cross-border trade.
Women constitute the majority of small-scale cross-border traders, according to COMESA, yet they face numerous challenges, including inadequate information about procedures and requirements, limited facilities and gender-related harassment.
To address some of these challenges, COMESA introduced the Simplified Trade Regime (STR) in 2010.
The regime is specifically designed for small-scale traders dealing in eligible goods valued at up to US$2 000 per consignment. It simplifies customs procedures and uses instruments such as the
Simplified Customs Document and Simplified Certificate of Origin.
This may sound bureaucratic, but for a small trader, simplification can make a substantial difference.
Less paperwork, clearer procedures and reduced costs can mean less time spent at a border and more time running a business.
Trade Information Desk Officers have also been deployed at selected border posts to help small-scale traders understand border procedures and complete documentation.
Zimbabwe is among the countries involved in efforts to improve small-scale cross-border trade, with the Chirundu Border Post between Zimbabwe and Zambia having been included in COMESA’s trade facilitation initiatives.
For a woman whose business depends on moving goods across the border, such interventions are not merely administrative reforms but can directly affect the cost, speed and security of doing business.
Supporting women entrepreneurs
COMESA’s support for women extends beyond the border.
The organisation has developed initiatives aimed at helping women start, grow and expand businesses.
One example is the 50 Million African Women Speak (50MAWS) platform, which seeks to provide women entrepreneurs with information, networks, mentoring, financial-service opportunities and access to markets. It is designed to connect women across countries and between urban and rural areas.
Access to information is often underestimated as a business resource.
A woman may have a good product but not know where to find customers. She may want to formalise her business but not know what documentation is required. She may need financing but not know which institution offers suitable funding.
Digital platforms that connect women to information, markets and other entrepreneurs can help bridge these gaps.
The benefit is potentially even greater for women in rural areas who may otherwise have limited access to business networks.
The finance question
For many women, however, the biggest obstacle remains access to finance.
Having a business idea or a viable enterprise is not enough if an entrepreneur cannot obtain the capital required to purchase equipment, increase production, hire workers or enter new markets.
COMESA’s emerging regional strategy on women’s economic empowerment specifically identifies access to finance, education and skills development, market opportunities and supportive legal frameworks as key areas requiring attention.
This is an important shift in thinking.
Women’s economic empowerment cannot simply mean encouraging women to start businesses. It must also mean creating conditions under which those businesses can survive and grow.
In April, COMESA’s ministers responsible for gender and women’s affairs emphasised the need to strengthen women’s participation in regional value chains, scale women-led enterprises and address barriers to finance, markets and opportunities.
From small trader to value-chain participant
There is also an opportunity for women to move higher up the economic value chain.
Women are heavily involved in agriculture, but producing crops or livestock is only one part of the economic process.
Greater value can be created through processing, packaging, branding, transportation and marketing.
COMESA’s gender and economic empowerment agenda seeks to increase women’s participation in agriculture value chains and private-sector development. Consider a woman farmer producing tomatoes.
Selling fresh tomatoes at a local market provides an income. But if she can participate in processing, packaging and regional distribution, the economic value of her produce can increase significantly.
The same principle applies to women producing textiles, crafts, food products and other goods.
Regional markets can create opportunities for women to become not only producers, but processors, suppliers, exporters and business owners.
A platform for women’s voices
COMESA’s gender agenda also recognises that economic empowerment is closely connected to participation in decision-making.
The COMESA Gender Policy advocates for equal and full participation of women in COMESA activities and promotes affirmative action to address gender imbalances. This matters because policies affecting women should not be developed without women.
A woman trader understands border challenges differently from a policymaker sitting in an office hundreds of kilometres away.
A female farmer understands agricultural barriers differently from someone who has never depended on farming for a livelihood.
A woman entrepreneur knows the challenges of raising capital, balancing family responsibilities and expanding a business.
Their experiences must therefore inform the policies designed to support them.
Women and the digital economy
Technology is becoming another important avenue through which COMESA can benefit women.
Digital platforms can give women access to business information, networks, financial services and customers without requiring them to physically travel long distances.
The 50MAWS platform is one example of this approach, using digital connectivity to support women entrepreneurs and facilitate the exchange of knowledge, mentoring and market opportunities.
For young women in particular, digital entrepreneurship could become an important pathway into regional commerce.
But digital inclusion must go beyond simply providing platforms.
Women also need affordable internet access, digital skills, financial literacy and the confidence to use technology to build sustainable businesses.
Despite these initiatives, COMESA’s work on women cannot be viewed as complete.
Policies do not automatically translate into empowerment.
A woman trader may have access to a simplified customs procedure but still face harassment at a border.
A woman entrepreneur may have access to information but still struggle to secure a loan.
A farmer may have access to a regional market but lack adequate transport, storage or processing facilities.
These challenges demonstrate why women’s economic empowerment requires a comprehensive approach.
COMESA has itself acknowledged the need to strengthen implementation. Regional gender ministers recently called for measurable outcomes, stronger accountability and better data to monitor progress on women’s empowerment. This is crucial.
If governments and regional institutions are serious about women’s empowerment, they must be able to demonstrate not only how many programmes have been launched, but how many women have actually benefited.
Have incomes increased and women-owned businesses expanded?
Are more women exporting?
Are women accessing finance and moving into leadership positions?
Are border conditions safer?
These are the questions that will ultimately determine whether regional integration is delivering for women.
A regional opportunity for Zimbabwean women
For Zimbabwe, COMESA presents an important opportunity for women seeking to participate in regional commerce.
Zimbabwean women already play significant roles in agriculture, manufacturing, retail, informal trading and entrepreneurship.
Regional markets can provide opportunities to expand these activities beyond the domestic market.
But unlocking that potential requires collaboration between government, financial institutions, private-sector organisations, women’s business associations and the women themselves.
Women must also be equipped with knowledge of trade regulations, product standards, taxation, digital marketing and financial management.
Regional integration should therefore not be viewed merely as a government-to-government project.
It should be understood as something that can affect the ordinary woman trying to make a living and build a better future for her family.
Ultimately, the importance of COMESA to women extends beyond the movement of goods across borders.
It is about economic independence, creating opportunities as well as giving women access to markets, information, finance, technology and networks.
It is about recognising that a woman running a small business is not simply trying to survive; she can be an employer, producer, investor and contributor to national economic growth.
COMESA’s own emerging Regional Strategy on Women’s Economic Empowerment reflects this broader understanding, focusing on removing the barriers that prevent women from fully participating in economic opportunities.
The message is increasingly clear: women cannot be treated as beneficiaries of economic development alone. They must be recognised as economic actors and drivers of growth.
As Africa pursues deeper regional integration, the success of initiatives such as COMESA should therefore be measured partly by what happens to the woman entrepreneur at the heart of the economy.
