Women in Jana, a remote community in Northern Ghana, have benefitted from a vocational training, entrepreneurship education and financial support programme, aimed at turning their new skills into sustainable businesses.
Organised by the Adunyame Foundation’s Community Women Empowerment Programme, the women were given new business knowledge, trained in soap-making and access to financial services.
The training, held at the conference centre of the Jana Chief’s Palace, brought together women from the community for hands-on vocational training, entrepreneurship coaching and financial literacy aimed at creating sustainable livelihoods.
Understanding that many aspiring entrepreneurs struggled to raise start-up capital, the Adunyame Foundation also provided ten women with complete business start-up kits containing soap-making chemicals, production containers, personal protective equipment and other essential materials worth GH₵1,500.
Sahada Issah, one of the dozens of women drawn from Jana to participate in the programme, said the initiative has offered more than a new source of income to her.
“I appreciate Adunyame Foundation for this training.
We appreciate that you chose Jana.
Our training was not just in soap making but also how we can sell ourselves.
I learnt a lot through this programme and I have every intention to grow this business so that next time when the foundation comes, they will be even more impressed,” she said.
Cooperatives
To encourage long-term success, the beneficiaries have been organised into a women’s cooperative to enable members to produce collectively, purchase materials together, share knowledge, improve accountability and expand access to markets.
The programme also prioritised financial inclusion by connecting participants with Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans.
Perez Perry Adunyame, Project Lead of Adunyame Foundation, assured participants of the Foundation's long-term commitment to the initiative and emphasised that the programme had been designed with sustainability at its core.
The Founder and Director of Adunyame Foundation, Frema Adunyame, emphasised the importance of inclusive economic empowerment as a solution to unemployment and poverty.
"One of the biggest challenges facing our country today is unemployment and, perhaps more importantly, unemployability.
While our nation continues to make every effort to address these issues, we must ensure that no one is left behind.
It is our collective responsibility to equip one another with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities needed to break the cycle of poverty.
This is my passion, and it is the reason the Adunyame Foundation is rolling out this programme,” she said.
