The United States mission in South Africa and the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) will hold the 2023 edition of the Women Entrepreneurs Program in South Africa from July to November.
According to a statement shared by AWIEF, the two entities will partner to roll out the mentorship program aimed at empowering women and promoting economic prosperity.
A total of 140 women from South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland will stand to benefit from this year’s edition which is different from the previous ones where the program was only open to women in South Africa.
Announcing the opening, AWIEF Founder Irene Ochem lauded the achievements realized in the previous editions of the program in South Africa.
Empowering Women Entrepreneurs
Further, Ochem- who is also the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), expressed her optimism in the extension of the training to Lesotho and Swaziland.
“We are excited to be continuing in our role as implementing partner and extending the impact to women in Lesotho and Eswatini,” she noted.
Once selected, participants will take part in training sessions to be carried out in the South African cities of Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The Cities of Maseru (Lesotho) and Mbabane (Swaziland) will also host in person and virtual sessions for the first time.
Participants will have an opportunity to network, learn from peers, develop business plans and network with established entrepreneurs from the US.
Further, the participants will stand opportunities to land seed capital from highly regarded players.
Conditions for qualification include being a woman between 21 and 35 years old, and being a resident of one of the listed host cities.
Further, Women Entrepreneursmust have viable business ideas or have worked in business for less than two years.
In March U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris pledged $1 billion for women empowerment in Ghana following her two-day visit to the west African State.