Canada & Caribbean Export Launch $3.16M GRIT Project for Businesswomen

• Canada and Caribbean Export has introduced a $3.16M initiative to develop women-owned business enterprises export trade.
• The Program GRIT was initiated June 24, 2025, in St. Lucia, involves workshops and market access facilitation.

Caribbean Export, with the support of the Canadian government, is pleased to announce the launch of GRIT which is a Caribbean Women Entrepreneurs Generating Resilient and Inclusive Trade, a groundbreaking project aimed at building the ability of women-owned enterprises in the Caribbean to access Caribbean and global markets, a press release from Caribbean Export states.

The project will promote more sustainable economic growth by closing existing gender gaps in trade. GRIT will engage with women-owned enterprises and trade support institutions to develop capacity, enhance access to resources, and raise their visibility in export markets of strategic importance.

GRIT is the government of Canada's first-ever collaboration with Caribbean Export, and will aim to increase export-readiness, improve access to trade information and networks and gender-responsive trade policy promotion, according to the release.

Regional business-to-business B2B matchmaking, digital promotion assistance and capacity-building of trade support institutions in order to more effectively serve women entrepreneurs are also included in the project.

In the amount of CAD $3.16 million provided by the Canadian government, GRIT is a four-year program that gives specialized support to women-owned enterprises with an emphasis on developing exports to the Canadian market, as stated by the release.

It aims to overcome principal obstacles to trade, technical support and tools, and create a gender-sensitive environment for trade. GRIT will be administered in the following Caribbean nations: Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The launch ceremony on 24^th June, 2025, in St. Lucia will be followed by an export readiness workshop for a day specifically for local women entrepreneurs and is facilitated with the assistance of Export Saint Lucia and DHL.