/ Daily News/Guangzhou, July 27, 2022 -- The first online seminar of APEC Women Connect(AWC)2022 was successfully held on July 22. The conference was jointly organized by APEC Women Connect and MyyShop, a SaaS platform for social e-commerce under the banner of Dunhuang Network Group, with the theme of "Women's digital Inclusion in the new Normal". Wang Shutong, founder, chairman and CEO of Dunhuang Network Group, attended the event and made a keynote speech. She called on relevant institutions and organizations of various countries to attach importance to and seize the opportunities of social e-commerce under the new normal after the epidemic, empower women's development with digital tools, and continue to strengthen international multilateral cooperation by building female professional communities, so as to build a sustainable future together with women around the world.
The conference attracted important guests from different fields and countries, including Ruikan Yang, Head of UN Women's Office in China, Ira Noviarti, B20 Indonesia Women's Business Action Committee, Chetna Gala Sinha, Council Member of BRICS Women Business Alliance (WBA) India, Veronica Motloutsi, Council Member of South Africa, Atsuko Okuda, General Representative of ITU Asia-Pacific Region, Maya Juwita, executive director of the Indonesian Business Alliance for Women Empowerment (IBCWE), and Megan Bozzuto of the International Women's Association (IAW), among others, watched the event online more than 50,000 times worldwide.
Seize the opportunity of social e-commerce and promote women's equal participation
The McKinsey report shows that women account for 54% of the unemployment caused by the pandemic, and gender inequality is worsening globally. According to Wang, the pandemic has accelerated the transformation of traditional businesses to online, bringing opportunities for female entrepreneurs, but on the other hand, they are also facing a serious shortage of digital tools. However, under the wave of social e-commerce, every content creator may become a marketing touch point and a sales channel, which opens a new window for female entrepreneurship around the world. For example, using MyyShop, a decentralized social e-commerce SaaS platform, can help women entrepreneurs in Msmes, especially entry-level sellers and individuals, succeed with social digital tools and services on the platform.
MyyShop was launched by Dunhuang Net Group in 2020, and was officially upgraded to one of the group's core businesses in July this year, which is equal to the cross-border e-commerce platform DHgate. MyyShop provides shop opening, product selection, supply, marketing and generation services based on social media platforms, so as to provide all kinds of content creators, Internet celebrities, Kols and KoCs with the opportunity to monetize private traffic, so that more people, especially female entrepreneurs, can participate in and benefit from the digital economy more equally and fairly.
Wang Shutong shared the entrepreneurial story of Miriam Febechukwu from Nigeria. Miriam quit her job at the hospital in 2017 due to workplace discrimination. MyyShop provides her with the whole process of opening a shop, building a website, selecting products and fulfilling orders. Six months into her business, she was making nearly $50,000 in monthly sales. "Africa is a part of the world with relatively poor infrastructure and less developed e-commerce, but in the social era, Miriam can also achieve entrepreneurship through digital tools. We hope to help more women achieve their entrepreneurial dreams through concrete actions." Wang Shutong stressed.Promote digital capacity building and build professional communities for women
The digital economy allows women to participate more equally in social labor, financial markets and entrepreneurship. However, the current development of the digital economy is not inclusive. Wang believes that lowering barriers to entry in the digital economy is key to helping more women get on the entrepreneurial path. MyyShop greatly reduces the entry threshold of social e-commerce through convenient and easy-to-use digital tools and perfect SaaS service matrix, allowing everyone to participate in global trade.
In addition to providing digital tools, support and capacity building for women entrepreneurs also determine their participation in the digital economy. "Dunhuang Network Group has been an active promoter and practitioner of the digital economy and female entrepreneurship, helping female entrepreneurs realize their business dreams and social values through digital tools," Wang said.
In 2016, Dunhuang Network Group initiated the APEC Women Connect project, which aims to empower women around the world through digital tools and help women, especially young women, realize their entrepreneurial dreams through inspirational sharing, practical learning and effective motivation. More than 100,000 women have joined the ranks worldwide, including female entrepreneurs, representatives of women-led smes, and policy makers. Wang also believes it is necessary to establish professional communities for women. Statistically, 90 percent of venture capital decision makers are men, and they invest 86 percent of their money in male entrepreneurs. Many surveys show that very few male investors invest in female entrepreneurs. According to Wang, the establishment of women's professional communities can give women entrepreneurs access to more resources, information and funding. In this regard, MyyShop is also working on a series of activities with different partners to help women entrepreneurs go further and grow better.Strengthen international multilateral cooperation to provide support for female entrepreneurship
In view of the digital challenges faced by female entrepreneurs, Wang Shutong believes that international multilateral cooperation should be strengthened, knowledge sharing and digital technology support should be accelerated to enhance the competitiveness of female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in different countries in a sustainable way.
Wang Shutong introduced that the Inclusion Working Group was formally established at the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) meeting in New Zealand in 2021. It will provide women with practical skills, knowledge, best practices and solutions to help them join the digital economy by proposing and implementing a series of initiatives. Access to digital skills and access to information equal to men. Under the leadership of the Inclusion Task Force, ABAC will further enhance its support and empowerment for Women's development in a number of ways, including conducting a "Women and the Economy" workshop to share best practices from businesses and governments in actively promoting women's equality in development and pandemic response, and actively promoting APEC Women Connect. The APEC Women Connect Summit has been held, the APEC Women Entrepreneurs Survey has been held, and the Women Entrepreneurship Competition has been launched. "With the gradual implementation of these projects, we will be able to provide more women with the skills, knowledge and relevant practices needed to start their own businesses and find jobs, helping them better participate in the social economy and realize their own survival and development," Wang said. At the end of her speech, Wang Shutong announced that the 3rd "She Power" global Digital Trade Entrepreneurship Competition will be held in August as part of the 2022 APEC Women Connect series. This year's competition aims to further explore how Msmes and individual entrepreneurs, led by women, are leveraging digital tools to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations in the era of social e-commerce. Wang Shutong also put forward an initiative for this purpose, hoping that female entrepreneurs would actively participate in the entrepreneurship competition, so as to influence and inspire more women to realize their personal dreams and values through social e-commerce and promote economic development and social progress.
