Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work are key to achieving sustainable development, said the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ervin Jose Massinga.
“Financial resources have limitation while conflicts hurt the Ethiopian economy; this kind of network is the solution,” he said. He made the remark in his message to the pioneering women entrepreneurs who joined the launch of the U.S. government supported Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) on March 5 at the U.S. Embassy.
In its fourth iteration in Ethiopia, the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) program, implemented by the Center for Accelerated Women’s Economic Empowerment (CAWEE), provides aspiring women entrepreneurs
with targeted capacity-building training to enhance their businesses.
The AWE program offers aspiring women entrepreneurs the skills and knowledge needed to start or grow their businesses through the U.S. government’s DreamBuilder online course. Since 2020, 338 women entrepreneurs have participated in the program, including many graduates who have gone on to establish thriving small and medium enterprises. In this fourth-year project, AWE will benefit 250 Ethiopian women through capacity building and global networking.
In observance of International Women’s Month, Ambassador Massinga also joined a roundtable discussion led by Dr. Nigest Haile, Executive Director of CAWEE. The roundtable was an opportunity for representatives of the African Women Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP), U.S.A. Development Fund awardees, and pioneer women exporters to celebrate their successes and voice their challenges in establishing export-oriented enterprises and strengthening the AWEP Ethiopia Chapter.
The Ambassador encouraged these pioneering entrepreneurs to work together to enter the global market, despite the challenges. Finally, Ambassador Massinga visited an exhibition of products and services provided by thirty women-led small and medium enterprises. For 120 years, the United States and Ethiopia have partnered in entrepreneurship and economic development, agriculture and food security, health and education, science and the environment, and many other areas to improve the lives of women and all Ethiopians.