The COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB) is a COMESA Institution established in July 1993 in Zimbabwe with the endorsement of the Authority made up of Heads of States and Governments of the COMESA member States. COMFWB changed its name from FEMCOM in August 2020.
COMFWB draws its mandate from Chapter 24 Article 155 of COMESA treaty and COMFWB Charter, which mandates COMFWB to “act as a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience among women entrepreneurs; an instrument through which the appropriate portion of COMESA Women in Development Programmes shall be implemented; a forum for network among women entrepreneurs and an instrument for encouraging women to set up or expand existing enterprises.”
Membership is open to umbrella National Associations of Women in Businesses recognized and linked through the Cooperating Ministry of COMESA in each Member State. At national level membership to the national chapters is open to individual women in business cooperatives and associations of women in business. If you would like to learn more about your local COMFWB Chapter, please go to the Members link in the menu bar, select your country and look for contact information under the Contact Information section.
The regional office for COMFWB is at Zimbabwe house, Lilongwe, Malawi.
COMFWB National Chapters are located in all 21 COMESA member’s states. If you are looking for the location of your local chapter, please go to the Members link in the menu bar, select your country and look for an address under the Contact Information section - there also you will find a phone number(s) and email addresses that you can contact to learn more about the Chapter.
You can contact the secretariat office on +265992676562 or send an email to jmasanche@comfwb.org. Alternatively, you can send us a message through the Contact Page. If you would like to contact COMFWB in your country, please go to the Members link in the menu bar, select your country and use the information under the Contact Information section.
You can find our Annual Reports for download in the Publications pages
Business Incubator for African Women Entrepreneurs (BIAWE), is a COMFWB project aimed at establishing and upgrading a network of business incubators in the COMESA region with the purpose of addressing some of the challenges faced by women in small and medium scale enterprises. You can learn more about the programme here.
You can participate in the programme by contacting the COMFWB Chapters with participating business incubators, namely, Burundi, Kenya, Sudan and the Kingdom of Eswatini.
The COMFWB Cluster Development Programme is a programme aimed at putting in place mechanisms to unlock value in sectors dominated by SMEs such as agriculture, industry, and services. The programme intends to create intra-trade and technology transfer initiatives among SMEs within a country and across all COMESA Member States. You can learn more about the programme here.
To participate in the Clusters programme please contact the local COMFWB Chapter in your country through the contact details provided in the Contact Information section of that Chapter's Member page.
The Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme Project (RECAMP) is a project funded by the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund. The project is focused on improving competitiveness and market access of SMEs and other firms in targeted value chains in the COMESA Member States and on generally improving the business environment for SMEs including the women and youth) in this region. You can learn more about the programme here.
To participate in the RECAMP programme please contact the local COMFWB Chapter in your country through the contact details provided in the Contact Information section of that Chapter's Member page.
