Trade is often discussed in terms of markets, corridors, logistics, tariffs and infrastructure. Yet trade is ultimately about people: the producers who create value, the entrepreneurs who take risks, and the workers and communities whose livelihoods depend on opportunity. For Eswatini, smart and inclusive trade must therefore mean investing in people as the foundation for competitiveness, resilience and shared prosperity. 

For a small, land-linked economy connected to regional markets such as Eswatini, the strategic question is not only how goods move faster across borders, but also how trade expands the country’s productive base: enabling more enterprises to formalise, meet standards, reduce costs, add value and reach larger markets. This matters for women, men, youth and persons with disabilities alike. But it also requires confronting the unequal barriers that determine who own productive assets, who can access finance and networks, who has time to grow a business, and who can convert participation in trade into real income. 

As participants at the recent Green, Smart and Inclusive Borders Summit, held at the UNDP Sustainable Centre alongside the Eswatini International Trade Fair, emphasised, "inclusive green trade starts long before the border." The question is not merely who can cross a border, but who can produce, finance, certify and successfully sell products in larger markets. 

Trade as a development strategy 

Smart trade uses technology, data, green solutions, standards and stronger institutions to reduce costs and connect producers to markets. Inclusive trade ensures these benefits reach women, men, youth, persons with disabilities, rural entrepreneurs and others whose enterprises and labour remain undervalued. A gender-responsive approach is essential because markets do not start on a level playing field. 

Eswatini has strong foundations, including improved digital access, proximity to regional markets, agricultural potential, manufacturing experience and a growing green economy agenda. However, MSMEs remain constrained by informality, limited access to finance, weak documentation, limited compliance with quality standards, high energy costs and uneven access to markets. With inclusion embedded across finance, energy, digitalisation, standards and trade facilitation, trade can become a powerful instrument for sustainable human development. 

Women, youth and men as drivers of competitiveness

Women’s economic empowerment is part of, not separate from, competitiveness. At the Green, Smart and Inclusive Borders Summit, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Nessie Golakai-Gould noted that women account for a significant share of cross-border traders, estimated at around 60 per cent in many contexts. Yet, as the summit discussion stressed, "participation alone does not guarantee prosperity.” Women are active across Eswatini’s MSME economy and cross-border commerce, yet many remain concentrated in lower-margin activities and face constraints in accessing collateral, formal finance, business networks, time, mobility, standards compliance and larger procurement opportunities.

Sebenzile Dlamini, Executive Director of Women in Trade, highlighted that unpaid care responsibilities also limit many women’s time for business growth, training and market expansion. Addressing this requires more than encouraging women to work harder. It requires practical measures: accessible childcare and care services, safer and more reliable transport, flexible training arrangements, digital access and a more equitable sharing of care responsibilities. Combined with targeting within households and communities, and with access to finance, certification and procurement, these measures can help viable women-led enterprises move from survival to growth.

The same trade system must also create credible pathways for unemployed young men and women, rural entrepreneurs and people with disabilities. Young people should be positioned not only as beneficiaries but also as innovators, entrepreneurs and skilled workers in e-commerce, digital payments, logistics, renewable energy, green construction, Agri-processing, manufacturing and technology-enabled services. 

Turning standards, energy and digitalisation into opportunity 

INGELO, the Local Market Access Certification Scheme, developed with UNDP support and adopted by the Government of Eswatini, is not an inclusion programme in isolation; it is a competitiveness programme, and the two reinforce each other. By helping MSMEs address cost, documentation and technical barriers, it can open access to retail shelves, procurement and larger value chains – provided smaller, rural and historically excluded enterprises, including women- and youth-owned businesses and entrepreneurs with disabilities, can realistically access and benefit from this pathway.

Inclusion as productivity and resilience 

Renewable energy is also central to competitiveness. Through the Joint SDG Fund-supported "Igniting Eswatini’s Green Engine" programme, UNDP demonstrated that hybrid solar PV systems, energy-efficient equipment and capacity building can reduce operating costs, improve reliability and strengthen MSME viability. Furthermore, the programme “Catalyzing Renewable Energy Access and Transition in Eswatini” (CREATE), a four-year government programme funded by the European Union Delegation to the Kingdom of Eswatini and implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy in partnership with UNDP and Catalyze Eswatini, builds on this evidence by helping MSMEs adopt renewable energy and energy-efficiency solutions, with explicit attention to women-led, youth-led and vulnerable-group-owned enterprises.

Inclusion must extend to people with disabilities. Fikile Shongwe of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office highlighted accessibility challenges across public spaces, including border posts and transport systems. Removing barriers through accessible information, assistive technologies, inclusive procurement, accessible facilities and disability-responsive training is not charity. It is a rights obligation, a productivity strategy and a route to better-designed systems for everyone. 

A gender-responsive trade strategy must also recognise men’s economic realities. In Eswatini, many men, particularly young men and those outside formal employment, face weak pathways to skills, stable work, productive enterprise, skills development and finance. Where economic exclusion is allowed to persist, it can reinforce household stress, disengagement from the labour market and wider social vulnerability. Creating credible routes into manufacturing, logistics, green construction, renewable energy, Agri-processing and digital services is therefore essential for productivity, household resilience and social cohesion, supporting a stable, productive and socially cohesive economy.

From pilots to scale 

The next step is to turn these interventions into a coherent investment pathway that helps MSMEs become more productive, strengthens women- and youth-owned businesses, expands INGELO certification, lowers energy costs through renewable solutions, improves digital market access, and converts CREATE opportunities into bankable investments. This requires addressing finance, standards, transport, care responsibilities, accessibility, business records, and market intelligence across the enterprise journey.

A strategic call to action 

Government, the private sector, financial institutions, development partners, academia and civil society must shift from generic MSME support to targeted pathways that expand the capacity to produce, compete and benefit. This means expanding women’s access to assets, finance, safety, leadership and higher-value markets, while enabling young women and men to build viable livelihoods, participate constructively in more equitable communities, and access standards compliance and digital transformation investments.

As participants at the Summit concluded, “the goal is not merely to help more people trade. The goal is to transform participation into productive capacity, competitiveness, and economic opportunity.” Eswatini’s trade future will be built by people with ideas, skills, ambition, and resilience. Gender equality is not achieved by treating women’s advancement and men’s prospects as competing priorities. It is achieved when women can overcome structural barriers and access assets, finance, safety, leadership, and higher-value markets on equal terms; when young women and men can build viable livelihoods; and when persons with disabilities are not locked out of the productive future Eswatini is trying to build. That is the promise of smart and inclusive trade, and UNDP stands ready to support it.