Ghanaian woman awarded Hilary Clinton’s Vital Voices Fellowship

Executive Director of the Bright Generation Community Foundation, Bernice Dapaah, has been awarded a three year fellowship by Vital Voices, a leading US based non-profit organization founded by Hilary Clinton, the immediate past US Secretary of State and former first lady of the United States.

The Fellowship, which was created in 2012, supports a global network of emerging and established women leaders who provide unusual and sustainable solutions to pressing problems that impede women and girls' progress to participate fully in society and the economy.

Ms Bernice Dapaah a rising social entrepreneur founded the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative in 2009. Under her leadership, Bernice nurtured the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative from a project idea into an award winning social enterprise that has won several international awards including the World Business and Development Award 2012, GIZ Impact Business Award 2011 and UNEP SEED Initiative Award 2010.

She also doubles as the National Coordinator of the National Free Shoes and Educational Supplies Program which is complementing the government of Ghana's free school feeding and school uniforms programs.

Hundreds of free brand new shoes and educational supplies have been distributed to needy students in deprived communities nationwide.

Bernice who is a member of the World Entrepreneurship Forum has also been appointed as a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Biodiversity and Natural Capital made up the of the world's foremost intellectual network, convening the most relevant and knowledgeable thought leaders from business, government, academia and civil society to address key global issues.

During the three year duration of the fellowship, Bernice will receive vital training and other mentoring opportunities from established women leaders through offerings tailored to meet her needs in advancing her unique social entrepreneurship projects geared towards women's empowerment.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh