Ghana gets representation at TEDWomen Conference 2015, as Yawa Hansen-Quao lifts the nation’s flag high

Yawa Hansen-Quao, the woman who made history in Ghana by becoming the first ever female student government (Ashesi SRC) president against all odds, serving on the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Foundation Board and on the Board of Directors of Ashesi University has lifted the flag of Ghana high once more, by earning a place on one of the world’s most exclusive platforms this year.

As a vibrant women’s advocate and leadership expert who cannot be glossed over on the subject of women empowerment, Yawa Hansen-Quao, the Founding Director of Leading Ladies Network (LLN), a non-profit organisation which aims at helping close women’s leadership gap in Africa has been selected to represent Ghana in the upcoming TEDWomen Conference this year.

TED which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design offers a huge platform for ideas sharing at numerous TED Conferences and TEDx Talks.

The TEDWomen Conference which comes off from 27^th to 29^th May, 2015 at Monterey in California will see hundreds of women around the world, who have made marks in their fields of endeavour attend.

Yawa who was a speaker at TEDxAccra recently holds a Masters degree in Gender, Peace & Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center and is very excited at the upcoming event. She looks forward to meeting up with other great women achievers from around the world in order to be inspired further. Yawa also hopes to share her story on managing Leading Ladies Network and the women leadership advocacy experience as well as project Africa.

Through Leading Ladies' Network, The able and versatile Yawa is dedicated to strengthening the capacity of women and girls to become strong leaders, by harnessing the energy and skills of socially conscious African women leaders.

“I believe that if we unlock the leadership potential of African women and girls, we can transform them into compassionate change makers who will improve not only their own circumstances but the circumstances of others. ‘’

With an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Ashesi University College, Honors in Entrepreneurship and New Product Development from American University of Rome, Italy; Yawa through her leadership organisation, LLN has created other flagship programmes such as the StandOut Women's Leadership Program to draw women in mid to senior/executive leadership to leverage their leadership for the good of others.

StandOut Women Leaders Network are charged with leveraging their leadership for the good of others. One of the members Audrey Abakah, a professional banker was inspired to establish a youth mentorship program called the Dream Leadership Club Foundation.

Yawa also has to her credit the Female Leadership Advancement & Empowerment Series (FLAMES) program to nurture social entrepreneurship in college and tertiary level students.

‘’Because of the success of these training programs, I now serve as a leadership consultant to UN Women, working currently with the South Sudan office to design leadership curricula to economically empower women and raise them as leaders in peace building”, she revealed.

Leading Ladies Network (LLN) programs are designed to instil servant leadership and social entrepreneurship among women, focusing on Servant-Leadership, Professional Skills Enhancing, Technical Competence Building, and Confidence Building.

LLN has so far trained over 600 youths in various programmes.

Yawa Hansen-Quao, is not only passionate about unearthing the leadership potential of women and girls, but is also involved in training and development of African professionals, as she is certified by Protocol School of Washington to teach corporate etiquette and international protocol.

She is confident to come back from TEDWomen Conference to inspire and affect more lives positively.

Story By Yvette Appiah

YAWA MODERATING ACCRA DISCOURSE

YAWA SPEAKS WITH HAND RAISED AT TEDXACCRA