By Mustapha Ceesay
BUZZ WOMEN Organization,Communications Officer
The International Trade Centre (ITC) has recently recognized BUZZ WOMEN Organization’s entrepreneurship training for rural women a requirement for admission into Youth Empowerment Project ‘Andandorr Programme’ in The Gambia.
Stating the benchmark for the programme in the application form, ITC stated: “Proof of previous entrepreneurship trainings (Empretec, SIYB, NEDI, BUZZ Gambia & others etc.).
Reacting to this development, Fatou Toray Cham, National Coordinator, BUZZ WOMEN ORGANIZATION Gambia expressed joy and her appreciation of the development.
“We at BUZZ WOMEN feel excited and honoured learning International Trade Centre through the Youth Empowerment Project recognising and making our training one of the criteria for its Andandorr Programme.
“It speaks volumes of the quality of our training, and the lasting impact it has on the livelihoods of rural women by boosting their financial, social and psychological strengths.
“It is a tap for us on our backs which will serve as a motivation for us in our drive to empower rural Gambian women through our tailored training modules on financial literacy, business management and personal development or growth,” she remarked
Senior trainer, Fatou Manneh, one of the staff and architects of this milestone also weighed in her reaction.
She said: “Basically, the fact that the training is gear towards empowering women in the remote areas, who are left behind when it comes to education, makes it more interesting to for Buzz Gambia to register such as success in just two years. Because it is touching souls of a cohort of people [women] who matter in national development; because they’re the most talked about in every development agenda.”
The “Andandorr” programme is a pilot entrepreneurship programme offered by the International Trade Centre through the Youth Empowerment Project; and jointly implemented by key entrepreneurship service providers in The Gambia.
It follows a maturity-model designed service provision for local qualifying youth entrepreneurs -males & females from 15 to 35 years in the country in all regions.
The programme is aimed at expanding the growth of post-revenue, targeting new markets, new products among others of selected entrepreneurs; who will benefit from the following sectors: Information Communications Technology (ICT); Agric-business; Poultry; Creative Industries; Fashion & Textile respectively.
From ‘Andandorr’, selected entrepreneurs in the mentioned sectors will get a hands-on accelerator entrepreneurship support, business advisory, coaching & mentorship, market linkages coupled with access to finance opportunities and technical skills throughout 2020.
BUZZ WOMEN Organization is a Non-Governmental Organization, (NGO) established in 2018. It is mandated to provide entrepreneurship education (financial literacy, business management & personal growth) for rural women in the Gambia with the aim of alleviating poverty among low-income earners among the rural women. So far, it has trained more than 3, 000 women within the Greater Banjul Area.