THIRTY-FIVE female entrepreneurs in Bulawayo had an opportunity to advance their business and entrepreneurial skills through the United States embassy’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) programme.
AWE is an exchange programme that started in 2019, to empower women with the knowledge, networks and access to opportunities they need to launch or scale up successful businesses.
Addressing the graduands at the National Gallery in Bulawayo yesterday, the US embassy public diplomacy officer Rebecca Archer-Knepper challenged the women to find solutions to make Zimbabwe more attractive and competitive for global business.
“Zimbabwe has boundless riches, both human resources, natural resources, wonderful opportunities, you are finding those, you are seeing the problems and finding the solutions; you are working together to make Zimbabwe a more attractive and competitive place for global business. So you are helping to make Zimbabwe's economy work for everyone,” she said.
Archer-Knepper said the United States supported women entrepreneurs to broaden equitable access to opportunities and to spur economic growth, thus, the entrepreneurs should work towards that mandate.
“You are showing people in rural areas, you are showing women, you are showing young girls what is possible for women in Zimbabwe. So please, as you move forward, remember, Zimbabwe's business community needs your creativity, your leadership and your vision,” she said.
AWE 2024 programme manager and purse on point director, Thubelihle Ndlovu, said the nurturing that the entrepreneurs received would contribute to the economic development of the city and the country as a whole.
“I think they are really in safe hands because AWE is contributing to actually building the future of the entrepreneurs in Bulawayo and fortifying the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city, which I think is a big thing for entrepreneurship in general,” Ndlovu said.
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“Basically, now you have this pool of women that are being chained into the market, that have been trained on how to start, grow, scale and formalise their businesses and they're building a network, which is contributing to the economic development of the city and ultimately the country.”
In 2024, the AWE programme in Zimbabwe received nearly 1 000 applications and only 105 women were accepted after a highly competitive selection process. Ndlovu said those would contribute to the mission of the academy.
“Over 75% of the women who compete in the AWE programme get to formalise, monetise and put structures to their business ideas and ventures and more than 30% hire more staff while 90% increase their earnings,” she said.
Meanwhile, four of the 35 women received cash prizes of US$1 000 each for outstanding pitch completion and these included Sibhekinkosi Sigola of Alvaro; Elizabeth Chimuti of Feisty Seed; Martinagema Moyo of Chirundu Holdings and Faith Mutete of WIM Zimbabwe.
