It is one thing to empower people with capital investment to start businesses, and it is quite another to train them on how to run businesses. This training is very crucial as entrepreneurs get to understand not only how to run their businesses but also how to manage their money and make it work for them. When you think about it, money management is the ultimate goal while making it is just part of the journey. Women face a lot of unique challenges and barriers in their day to day activities in entrepreneurship and these are some of the areas where training comes through for them.
The Women Enterprise Fund which has empowered women for years now has announced that it will train 200,000 women in 47 counties with entrepreneurship training and access to capital investment by the end of the year. This was announced by WEF CEO Engineer Charles Mwirigi, during the commissioning of 36 new trainers. The group has successfully completed a weeklong training of trainers program and will be deployed across the country as a scale up to the current 290 trainers that will help the Fund achieve its set target before the year ends.
During the one week training, the 36 trainers, the majority being youths under the age of 30 were equipped with techniques and methodologies for conducting an effective training particularly for adult learners, on the policy and structures of WEF, and a practical appreciation of the WEF manual which covers record-keeping skills, marketing and promotion of businesses, financial literacy, business plan development among other skills.
This training which aims to empower one million women in the country is informed by the common belief between Coca Cola Central and Women Enterprise Fund that when you empower a woman, you empower a community. The program is rooted in sustainability and is informed by the two institutions shared interest in creating a conducive environment that enables women to build sustainable businesses.
In 2019, 161,415 women benefitted from the training, bringing the total number of beneficiaries supported through this partnership that was established in 2014 to 718,550. The program aims to address and remove barriers that women may experience in creating economic opportunities. Participants receive business skills training, access to financial services and business club mentoring.
See our earlier thoughts on why women empowerment is such an important pillar of society.
Also read about some of the beneficiaries of WEF training and financial boost and how they have been able to make their business thrive.
