06 Sep 2016

 The African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) Botswana will roll out a training programme in seven villages and districts around the country in order to achieve its mandate.

The villages to be covered include Maun, Ghanzi, Tsabong, Selebi-Phikwe, Francistown Southern and Central districts. 

The first training will be held in Maun on September 13 at Maun Lodge and the American ambassador, Mr Earl Miller is expected to officially open the seminar.

The seminar will attract participants from Maun, Sehithwa and Gumare. 

The chairperson of AWEP Botswana, Ms Chigedze Chinyipe said in an interview that the topics to be covered included financial management, product/service development and export readiness.

She encouraged women and youth entrepreneurs to attend these training workshops which she said would capacitate them and help manage their businesses in a sustainable manner.  

Ms Chinyipe said they had started to engage other women´s organizations, whose mandate and focus was on entrepreneurship development, economic empowerment, promotion of gender equality and equitable distribution of resources to foster synergies and areas of collaboration to improve livelihoods of women.

She said recently they held a Women Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and stakeholder consultative meeting in Gaborone which aimed to foster collaborative synergies between NGO’s whose core mandate was women and youth economic empowerment.

She said the meeting also shared insight with stakeholders  on how they could uplift women economically in Botswana using their existing programmes and mandates.  

Meanwhile, AWEP Chapter, is one of the 48 AWEP Chapters in Africa and the organization identifies and builds networks of women entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa poised to transform their societies by owning, running, and operating small, medium and large businesses, and by becoming voices for social advocacy in their communities. 

This is through promoting business growth for women entrepreneurs, to increase trade both regionally and with the United States of America through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Some of the main objectives of AWEP are to accelerate the growth of women-owned businesses, foster leadership for women business organisations and support advocacy for women economic empowerment.

AWEP Botswana Chapter´s distinction from other local women´s organizations is not only to increase trade through AGOA but to also  create better business environments,  empowerment of women entrepreneurs through business trainings , mentorship programmess and access to markets. ENDS