A TOTAL of 60 women traders are set to take part in this year’s Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) which kicks off today under the umbrella of the Equal Opportunity for All Trust Fund (EOTF).

Speaking during closing of training for prospective participants in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, EOTF Executive Director Stephen Emmanuel said this year’s number is low because most women-run SMEs still conduct businesses informally.

He said the fund booked 38 booths for women-run SMEs under a capacity building programme dubbed 'Women in Poverty Eradication' to exhibit and sell their products.

"We conducted a vetting process from SMEs applications and considered various criteria such as product quality in line with both national and global standards and we were able to get these 60 who will participate in the exhibition," he said.

The women-run SMEs that got the opportunity to participate at DITF this year, according to Emmanuel, are those with quality certificates from Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS).

He added that through Tantrade, the fund has enabled 20 women traders to sell their products abroad through capacity-building training they received.

Prof Dorcas Kibona, a researcher and specialist in natural foods, said EOTF training enabled her company to improve the quality of its products that are sold outside of Tanzania.

"One of the products we sell abroad is banana flour, which is good for diabetic and overweight people; we have been able to deliver authentic products to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom," she said.

At the event, EOTF issued 250 certificates to those who participated in the programme fully.

EOTF has been operating for 27 years since 1997 and until recently, the fund managed to enable 6,800 women-run SMEs to generate 1trn/-.