As innovative, committed and hardworking as they may be, for a long time now, women entrepreneurs have had low participation in public tenders globally. This also applies to Rwanda, a country known for fair women representation in politics and the civil service, among other areas.
As innovative, committed and hardworking as they may be, for a long time now, women entrepreneurs have had low participation in public tenders globally. This also applies to Rwanda, a country known for fair women representation in politics and the civil service, among other areas.
The International Trade Centre places the percentage of tenders that go to women entrepreneurs at a mere one per cent globally.
To bridge this gap, the International Trade Centre last week during the World Export Development Forum (WEDF), launched an initiative to boost women entrepreneurs’ participation in public procurement. Though the modalities of the initiative’s implementation are still unclear, the move raised a few questions. Why are women entrepreneurs hesitant to pursue public tenders? Are they discriminated against by the tendering authorities? What are the appropriate approaches to increase their share on the ‘tendering table’?
As noble as the initiative may be in its intentions, it sparks questions on whether the famous 30 per cent threshold of women participation in public tenders should be applied.
Would the application of the ‘positive discrimination’ strategy hold back the competitiveness in the procuring process?
Commenting on women acquiring public tenders, Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Vice Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda notes that women-owned enterprises in Rwanda get about 18 per cent of public tenders annually. By her light, the percentage was not impressive by any constitutional standards.
"This is a small number for any constitutional standard but what we know for a fact is that women who are able to get the tenders perform well and are committed,” the BNR vice governor says.
What was displeasing to the vice governor were the reasons that disqualified women-owned enterprises from submitting offers and quotations for tenders; administrative tests.
Administrative tests mostly involve how a company is registered, providing a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and many other requirements as requested by the tendering company.
She suggests that the best way forward as far as building confidence among women entrepreneurs goes is to raise awareness on compliance to standards and provide means for information access on the tenders’ existence.
She adds: "Women enterprises can also go into joint ventures to be able to win these tenders and after acquiring the experience, the business can apply as a standalone.”
Giving her experience through the corridors of procuring offices, Sandra Teta, Marketing Manager of East African Promoters, says that acquiring tenders is mostly influenced by price and quality of services to be offered.
Her firm has successfully bid and won tenders such as organising the celebration events of the 20th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi at Amahoro National Stadium.
By her experience, it is never on the applicant’s gender that a tender is awarded, it is by the value for money that the firm advertising the tender will get.
"Institutions that offer tenders usually have a price they want and the quality of services based on the background of the company. You have to provide reference on what you have done before so that the institution can know what kind of experience you have. It’s never about whether the company is owned by a man or a woman,” Teta explains.
The 22-year-old has been applying for public and private tenders for the last four years, especially in events management. According to her experience, the publicity around tenders could be the biggest undoing for women.
"For the time I have been involved in applying for tenders, there is need for institutions to work on the way they publish the tenders. Most people miss out on applying because they are not aware of the tenders,” Teta says.
The regulations on public procurement state that public tenders should be advertised in at least one daily newspaper and firm’s website amongst other places.
Augustin Seminega, the head of Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA), says that public tenders are for all and not discriminatory on gender basis.
"Public tenders are not discriminative whatsoever, all men and women can apply for public tenders as stated in the law. Public tenders are supposed to be published in different newspapers and other avenues so that the general public can be informed,” Seminega notes.
He further adds that public tenders are supposed to specify the requirements such as terms of reference and the kind of services required and for interested parties to apply and when they are to present their quotations.
"It’s up to the tender committee to select the best company based on the quality of services to be offered, and the price,” Seminega adds.
Answering to the structure for the tender committee he says, "The tender committee in any institution is selected by the chief budget manager. The law doesn’t specify the number of women or men supposed to be on the tender committee. These are technical positions and they vary from institution to institution.”
Prior to her departure from Kigali back to Geneva after the three day exports forum, Arancha Gonzalez, the Executive Secretary of International Trade Centre, weighed in on the issue.
From where she stands, she sees two sides to it, offer and demand.
"On the offer side, there is a limited capacity on women entrepreneurs who can successfully meet the standards required by government procurement markets. These government procurement markets are about value for money. There has to be value in it and value in this case means quality standards while money means it has to be the most economical one,” Gonzalez explains.
To address this, she proposes boosting the ability of women entrepreneurs to meet the set requirements.
According to her it is on the demand side where work needs to be done; the crafting of the offers. She goes ahead to lay out a working example;
If you put a bid for say $5 million (about Rwf3.4 billion), it is going to be very difficult for small and medium enterprises owned by women to meet the requirement, however if you put out several orders of $100,000 (about Rwf68 million), it becomes easier for them, she says.
Her view is that governments should draw out policies with a gender dimension to them.
However she underlines that it should not be confused for charity, "It is not about lowering the bar for women, it is not about asking the women to have less value for money compared to men.
It is about giving them a better opportunity to perform in a market that is already competitive,” Gonzalez says.
Whether the status quo has been due to lack of information, unnecessary administrative tests, inadequate financial capacity or all the above, women’s share in public tenders is among the few aspects where the country lags behind in gender equality rankings. As attention has been focused on other gender aspects, it is probably time to seek solutions to change the status quo.
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I SAY: Oda Gasizigwa, Minister of Gender and Family Promotion
It’s not about what the women are interested in producing; some times it’s about the challenges, what they have been experiencing. In all these years men have been getting opportunities, capacities so we need to be frank with ourselves and know it’s the right time now to raise women in business to the same level with men.
Should the affirmative action be applied while offering public tenders?
Robison Mugisha, Gender mainstreaming economic cluster expert
Based on the law regarding procurement, since it states that getting public tenders should not be discrimative in anyway, it’s on those grounds that I think that the affirmative action can be applicable. But still where there is government will, everything is possible.
Hope Azeda, Founder of Mashirika
I believe if we are to bridge the gap between women and men in business then anything is possible. Putting into consideration that most of the women never got the chance to attain education, entrepreneurship skills and administrative skills because of the history, this hinders them from fully competing for the tenders given the requirements speculated in the tendering process. If government can do some exceptions then the gap will be narrowed.