The Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (Dreams) program in Namibia has come through with the certification of 23 young women as No-Means-No instructors with the license to train adolescent girls in techniques to protect themselves against gender-based violence (GBV).
“Success isn’t about how much money you make; it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” – Michelle Obama Former First Lady of the United States
By Hilaire Akollo
When I bumped into Dr Nathalie Beatrice Chinje-N Bodiong (fondly known as Dr Nath) in Cape Town a bit more than 20 years ago, I did not know that I was making a date with destiny. She was a Brand Manager at Woolworths – South Africa’s premium food and non-food retail chain listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Since then, I have been witnessing closely and from afar, the rise and growth of a determined, principled, loyal, passionate and driven woman who is obsessed with Excellence in the areas of private sector development, women and youth entrepreneurship, intra-Africa trade and skills development in Africa.
The US Mission in Nigeria, in partnership with Ascend Studios Foundation, has commenced the training of 250 female entrepreneurs under the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE).
A two-day East African Community (EAC) workshop aimed at enhancing the participation of women in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has identified that female traders, youths, and SMEs in Africa face significant challenges when attempting to benefit from multilateral and regional trade agreements. This is because many trade agreements do not include their specific needs and concerns.
By Khadija Yusra Sanusi
In a 2018 review of Marvel’s “Black Panther,” I published as a student journalist for the American University of Paris’s Peacock Plume, I wrote: “Black Panther is a representation of everything that I stand for. Strong, black women leading the world; an African country that does not need “donations” from former colonizers; a country in which cultures from every corner of the continent are represented; Africans wanting to come back ‘home’ even though the mainstream opinion of outsiders is that Wakanda is a third world country that is only rich in “textiles, shepherds and cool outfits.”
Traders in Africa, especially women, youths and SMEs face significant challenges when attempting to benefit from multilateral and regional trade agreements as many trade agreements do not include their specific needs and concerns.
