Graduation Ceremony Held For 29 Women Entrepreneurs At YALI

A graduation ceremony has been held for the first cohort of Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) at the Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Centre (YALI RLC).

The 29 women entrepreneurs who graduated at the ceremony went through 15 weeks training which also involved an online portion they had to take in order to build their capacity and translate that in improving their various businesses. Thus, they were expected to come with a business plan that they could implement in their businesses after the training.

An amount of GH₵5,000.00 was presented to each of the 5 graduates out of the lots as Seed Fund after pitching their business ideas successfully during the course of the training.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Stephanie S. Sullivan in her remarks admonished the graduates to “…strengthen and grow your respective businesses. And on a personal note, I will also urge all of you to stay connected…and continue to support one another.”

One of the awardees, Mary Asare, Chief Executive Officer of Maduke Garments said, “This programme has really broaden my horizon especially in respect of financial management. I’m really grateful for the opportunity that the White House through the US Embassy has initiated.”

He added “This money is going to boost our production. We’re going to expand our business portfolio."

The AWE Programme which is sponsored by the US Embassy is a White House initiative aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs was officially launched in June 2019 by H.E. Stephanie S. Sullivan and Assistant Secretary of Education and Cultural Affairs, Marie Royce.

The Graduation of the Pilot Cohort was held on November 26, 2019, at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) where YALI RLC is located.

Present at the ceremony were The Cultural Affairs Officer of the US Embassy in Ghana, Elizabeth Ategou, Mrs. Shola Safo – Duodu, Country Lead, AWE Ghana and Project Director, YALI RLC among others.