(TAP) – The International Institute of Education (IIE) launched, on Thursday, in collaboration with the civil society organisations, a programme of acceleration and growth of women companies called "WES-Up".

"Funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) of the U.S. Department (1.5 million dinars), this programme is part of the Women’s Enterprise for Sustainability (WES) launched in 2012, which enabled 3,000 Tunisian entrepreneurs to benefit from training and coaching and 340 others to strengthen their own businesses, "said U.S. ambassador Daniel Rubinstein, during a news conference held in Gammarth.

"This third phase of the programme aims to provide women entrepreneurs with tools of technical and management assistance in order to develop their businesses and have the opportunity to reach new markets," he specified.

Minister of Vocational Training and Employment Imed Hammami said that the programme aims to ensure the sustainability and growth of women's enterprises, notably through the WES centres, which are companies operating in 9 governorates (Bizerte, El Kef, Tunis, Sfax, Kairouan, Gafsa, Tozeur, Zarzis and Tataouine) and support women at all stages of enterprise development.

As part of this programme, a guided training will be held on March 14 - 19, whose objective is to enable the management teams of the WES centres to strengthen their monitoring and coaching capacity during the phases of post-creation and growth of women's businesses.