The Coca-Cola Foundation in partnership with Women in Africa (WIA), has flagged off the first cohort of 687 beneficiaries of its Jamii Femme program in Kenya.
WIA is the world’s international platform for the economic development and support of African women.
The female entrepreneurs are currently engaged in a year-long program being conducted by WIA’s knowledge partner, Honoris United Universities. The sessions which began in September 2022, will equip the women to take a principled approach to design creative ideas, and gain knowledge on leadership and managerial skills.
Upon completion of the 4-month online course, 60 entrepreneurs from the first cohort will be selected for a 2-week accelerator program and assigned coaches to mentor them.
In addition, the program has earmarked grants which will be awarded to these beneficiaries to further support business development thereby increasing their impact on communities.
Debra Mallowah, Vice President, of the East and Central Africa Franchise, “We are excited to roll out this new initiative as it will play a critical role in accelerating our focus on how we impact women and the communities that we operate in. We are particularly happy to have Kenya as one of the beneficiary countries in phase 1, as it will enable us to build on the previous milestones from our 5by20 program (empower 5 million women by 2020 worldwide) where we were able to economically empower up to 800,000 women in Kenya alone, and 2 million Africa-wide in 5 years. Women empowerment remains one of our key pillars in driving the sustainability agenda and we are keen to bring on board more initiatives that deliver the desired positive impact in the lives of women in Kenya and Africa.”
The program dubbed “JAMII Femmes” seeks innovative solutions to bring positive changes in Africa by improving the quality of life for thousands of people. Participants will receive support through online training, networking, mentorship, and local boot camps.
In its first year, the program aims to support women entrepreneurs based in 3 countries: Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.
The program will be admitting its second cohort of women in January 2023. The application is open to women entrepreneurs from participating countries with businesses aligned with sustainable development goals. The initiative aims to impact 20,000 women entrepreneurs from 10 African countries over the next three years.