Nairobi Kenya, Oct 14 – The Coca-Cola Foundation has launched the first cohort of 687 recipients of its Jamii Femme program in Kenya in collaboration with Women in Africa (WIA), the global platform for the economic development and assistance of African women.
The “JAMII Femmes” program looks for creative ways to alter Africa for the better by raising thousands of people’s standards of living. Through networking, mentorship, online training, and nearby boot camps, participants will receive assistance.
The program’s first focus is on assisting female business owners in Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.
Speaking at the launch event in Nairobi, Debra Mallowah the Vice President of East and Central Africa Franchise said that one of their fundamental pillars in advancing the sustainability agenda is continuing to be women’s empowerment.
She continued by saying they are eager to implement more programs that have the desired good effects on the lives of women in Kenya and Africa.
“We are excited to roll out this new initiative as it will play a critical role in accelerating our focus on how we impact women and the communities that we operate in,” she said.
“We are particularly happy to have Kenya as one of the beneficiary countries in phase 1, as it will enable us build on the previous milestones from our 5 by 20 programme (empower 5 million women by 2020 worldwide) where we were able to economically empower up to 800,000 women in Kenya alone, and 2 million Africa-wide in 5 years.”
The female entrepreneurs will participate in a one-year program run by Honoris United Universities, a knowledge partner of WIA.
The workshops, which started in September 2022, will give the women the tools they need to develop their leadership and managerial skills as well as the ability to approach the design of original concepts with moral rigor.
“Upon completion of the 4-month online course, 60 entrepreneurs from the first cohort will be selected for a 2-week accelerator programme and assigned coaches to mentor them,” she added.
“In addition, the program will earmark grants which will be awarded to these beneficiaries to further support business development thereby increasing their impact on communities.”
The program will be admitting its second cohort of women in January next year.
Women business owners from the participating nations who have ventures that support sustainable development goals are eligible to apply.
