From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Grand Africa Initiative (GAIN), a Pan-African non-governmental organization involved in women and youths empowerment, as well as mentorship has secured a partnership with the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) to build and strengthen the entrepreneurship skills of 200 Nigerian women.
Executive Director of GAIN, Ms. Chinwe Okoli, in a statement explained that the entrepreneurship course titled “GAIN entrepreneurship masterclass for women” will run for six weeks, starting July, thus calling on interested women to submit application via www.grandafrica.org or www.bit.ly/GAINDBN.
She also explained that the masterclass course was designed to equip selected women with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to build and scale their businesses, adding that the training will cover areas critical to the success of MSMEs including ideation, legal services, branding, marketing, communication, accounting, modeling, staffing, structure, etc.
She said: “this program, women empowerment, is in line with one of the focus areas of GAIN. The participants will benefit from a faculty of experts in various aspects of the business. They would enjoy training and mentorship sessions some of which will be held virtually.
“Eligible for the program are women who have a business or an idea, and are between 22 to 45 years of age, and have a demonstrable interest in business, access to the internet-enabled device, and electricity to participate in the program.
Meanwhile, Managing Director, DBN, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, described the partnership with GAIN as a major achievement and a step towards the empowerment of women.
He said: “We are excited about this initiative which speaks directly to our mandate of building the capacity of MSMEs. The GAIN initiative has become imperative to reach as many women as possible by leveraging technology and promoting gender equality.
“At the end of this exercise, we hope to see more empowered women creating opportunities towards achieving sustainable social-economic development.”