News

The pandemic has posed challenges but also created opportunities for workers and businesses producing and selling biodiversity-based goods and services.

By Kweku Attafuah-Wadee, Lalen Lleander and Henrique Pacini, UNCTAD Economists

The world is on the brink of a “perfect storm” of crises, warns UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Dire consequences of the war on global food, energy and financial markets could upend billions of lives.

UNCTAD’s Empretec programme equips entrepreneurs with the skills to overcome adversity and inspire others in their communities.

The world’s poorest nations face many obstacles, including soaring debt, export marginalization, energy poverty and climate vulnerability.

UNCTAD alerts global economic growth will decrease to 2.6% from 3.6% for 2022 and that developing countries will need $310 billion to meet their external public debt service requirements this year.

The conflict could widen the $3.6 trillion annual gap in financing needed to achieve sustainable development goals and worsen the debt burden in many developing countries.

Empowered by UNCTAD’s training, she endured pandemic-induced disruptions with persistence, hard work and business acumen, emerging stronger from the crisis.

UNCTAD’s Empretec entrepreneurship programme has helped him formalize and grow his businesses, contributing to sustainable development in the country’s northern provinces.

A pilot training project out of Brazil has re-shaped the way Empretec, UNCTAD’s premier entrepreneurship initiative, delivers amid pandemics and in a digitally transformed world.