African Businesswomen's Network
By Stephenie Foster on 09/20/2010 @ 02:00 PM
I recently spent a week in Accra, Ghana attending meetings sponsored by Vital Voices Global Partnership, the Africa Businesswomen’s Network (the ABWN) and the ExxonMobil Foundation. Attending these meeting were leaders, staff, key members and representatives from businesswomen’s organizations from the six founding ABWN member countries – Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and South Africa.
When I landed, the first set of meetings, a four-day intensive session which focused on supplier diversity, was coming to an end. The 20 women (and one man) attending were learning how to make the best business case possible for supplying goods and services to large companies and governments by focusing on how their women-owned businesses can add value and reach new consumers for products and services.
Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO and co-Founder of WE Connect International, energized the group. WE Connect International is a global non-profit founded by corporations committed to doing business with women-owned businesses; the current members of WE Connect International represent over $700 billion in annual purchasing power. Elizabeth, who has extensive experience working with women-owned business, talked about this potential and the need to ensure that women-owned business are part of the competitive process.
To end the four-day intensive session, we visited one inspirational businesswoman, Matilda Amissah, who runs Matamiss Enterprise, a pottery business. She has previously provided products to Pier 1 Imports and is currently shipping a new collection of 500 pots for market testing to a buyer in Italy. Matilda is an amazing woman who worked first as a street vendor and now has developed this business with beautiful products. We were all so impressed with what she has been able to build.
The next four days were spent with the hub leaders discussing how to maximize services to members; create effective advocacy for a better business environment and create a strong base of hubs to grow. I worked with the group on how to communicate their advocacy message in the most effective way, and how to develop strong media relations.
It was an impressive group and an impressive week. I look forward to so much progress.
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