NGO launches initiative to support women businesses
A Network of professional female executives and business owners across Africa, WomenWork, has launched an initiative in Accra.
It is aimed at equipping women entrepreneurs and business owners with the requisite skills to effectively market their products and services.
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Beneficiaries of the initiative dubbed “Catapult Programme" are being provided with business, access, networks and technical support skills to help them grow their respective businesses.
It is envisaged that the initiative will help address the many challenges women business owners face in marketing their products or services to the public.
In line with that, the network engaged women founders of industries to hear about their problems and it was found out that businesses in Ghana and Kenya faced such bottlenecks.
Activities
The organisation used the experiences of focus groups of women business owners and the input of business development services experts to design a three-month hyper-focused programme to support them to market their products and services successfully.
The co-founder of the organisation, Asha Mweru, said the programme “combined coaching, courses and community where women business owners got access to coaches, a curriculum curated with insights from the African market, and thoughtfully picked accountability partners to keep them accountable and motivated”.
She said a unique value added to the programme was the contribution of industry insiders from Accra and Nairobi, who shared their experiences and provided “real-time industry feedback as the participants conducted a soft launch of their new products and services”.
Two of the participants, Isabella Naana Asante and Hillary Adare, said the programme had equipped them with the requisite skills to be able to target their customers and tailor their marketing strategies to meet their needs.
About organisation
Co-founded in Kenya with Pan-African ambition by Isis Nyong’o and Asha Mweru, WomenWork is focused on the advancement of African women through digital communities, skill enhancement and access to capital and opportunities to improve their chances of success in their respective businesses.
The organisation has currently trained more than 2,500 women business owners across East Africa.