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Mrs Nana Sekyere: changing stories of women and youth entrepreneurs
For Mrs Sekyere, there is no time to waste in offering assistance and support to people, particularly when one finds himself or herself in a position to offer such help.
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With her strong desire to support women and youth entrepreneurs, she creates the enabling environment through which she nurtures and builds up women and youth who are into entrepreneurship.
For her, her purpose is to see others grow and realise their God-given dreams.
As a mother, a nurturer and an ordained minister, Mrs Sekyere is of the view that God has given women a special gift to use to shape the world, hence her growing drive to support women and youth who are trying to survive in life. Her joy is to see others smile.
Through her personal initiatives and that of her organisation, CWR, Mrs Sekyere has touched many lives positively. This include picking people from the streets to give them fair chance in life to nurturing business ideas of young entrepreneurs and startups.
Just as Greta Thunberg, the Environmental Activist will say “You are never too small to make a difference”, Mrs Sekyere is of the view that when one determines to help, God gives the person the needed energy and ability to accomplish such feats.
At this year’s associates meeting of CRW, Mrs Sekyere shared an emotional story on why people must not delay in helping others if they have the ability to do so. This is her story:
“…Before I share her story let me digress a bit and tell you about the young man I met called Joel. Joel was a youth who was found on the streets of Nsutam in the Eastern Region. He had been living on the streets for two good years with no job or family to support him from age 17-19. They labeled him as the “mad” boy who wore no clothes.
In my first encounter with Joel, we spoke and I shared the Word of God with him. We prayed and convinced him to wear his clothes. According to locals in the area, this was the first time in two years he had kept his clothes on. I felt deeply in my spirit that Joel was not “mad” but circumstances, poverty and shame had brought him to that level. Through several conversations with him, I realised he was a bright, well spoken, and had passed with 6 A’s in his SHS certification.
I saw in him a great future: a University graduate with a career, a husband, a father and above all a godly man. I gathered my contacts and worked to find a place for Joel to live and get his life back on track. The Bible says the devil walks like a roaring lion seeking for someone to devour. Whilst I was seeking to find him a home, Joel was snatched by the devil. Unfortunately, Joel passed last year not by Covid-19 but was brutally killed and his dismembered body was used for rituals. I blame myself because the boy needed a home; time was wasted and I could not find him one in time. I leave you with this quote by William Penn:
“I shall pass this world but once. Any good therefore I can do or any kindness that I can show to my fellow human being, let me do it NOW. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.”
My opportunity to help Joel has passed and I will not get that opportunity again. The boy was drowning inside; depression had kicked in and had pushed the boy to the extent of losing his mind. I was not obedient enough.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am sharing Joel’s story for all of us to realise that tomorrow is not ours and whenever we are in a position to help, we should be obedient and do so religiously, and without delay.”
For Mrs Sekyere, many people, particularly women are drowning in their problems but without help and those who could help wait till such people suffer it all to the point of some dying in the process.
“A lot of women here among us today are drowning; one way or the other whether it is a struggle to be able to put food on the table, whether it is from an abusive marriage, whether it is from stress or the death of a love one? Please be obedient. Reach out and touch someone by giving a helping hand, a little donation, a little advice or simply, to listen and you will be amazed at what this help will do,” she pointed out.
Sharing another story of an associate and an ambassador of Crown Women Rising Ghana, Fafape Foe (Mushroom Queen), who is into mushroom business –E-90, Mrs Sekyere said when Fafape approached her with her business idea, she saw a great potential Fafape’s business and decided to show her the way.
She said with her little advice to the Mushroom Queen, Fafape’s business is booming and that makes her (Mrs Sekyere) a happy person.
“When she told me about what she was doing, I said “go and impact lives, go and change the world. What you have learned from CWR Ghana, do not keep it to yourself; pass it on to other women and change lives.
“I checked up on her and like I said from the beginning, I mothered her, I nurtured her and I preached to her and I am so happy to see how far she has come and I give all the glory to the Almighty God who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our Salvation!”, she noted.
For Mrs Sekyere, the goal of the Crown Women Rising Ghana is to seek to the betterment of women entrepreneurs by igniting the fire in them, saying “that is why at CWR Ghana, we change lives by impacting one woman, one youth at a time and thereby transforming our community.”
She said CWR is guided by three principles, to empathize, energize and elevate, explaining that “We empathise by listening to your story, energise by engaging you with different networks whilst we elevate you by bringing your products to the right standard to trade locally and internationally and linking you to prospective investors.”
“At CWR Ghana, we change lives by impacting one woman/youth at a time and thereby transforming our whole community,” Mrs Sekyere noted.