A collective union of women in agriculture have conveyed to form a networking avenue for the international women’s day. The global event series will start in Kenya, and set off in other countries. These events promote interactions among women companies, markets actors and other public and development actors for better understanding of needs and opportunities.
“In the next four weeks, we are going to hold similar networking events in all our 11 focus countries where women entrepreneurs in agribusiness can interact and share experiences with their colleagues and other players in the industry under the banner VALUE4HER,” said Vanessa
Adams, AGRA’s Vice President for Strategic Partnerships, and Chief of Party, PIATA.
VALUE4HER is a platform whose aim is to increase incomes and employment opportunities for women by linking women-led agribusinesses with competitive high value regional and global markets, and improving women business leader’s technical and managerial skills, with training
on market dynamics, to grow their agribusinesses further.
“You cannot make a change single handedly,” said Adams. “You need networks, coalitions,
partnerships and movements to make an impact,” she added.
Mary Onsongo, the Senior Project Management Specialist, Office of Economic Growth and
Integration (OEGI) at the USAID said that the VALUE4HER was a great milestone and an
important resource. “Through this network, we are making our voices heard,” she said noting
that there are 779 women-led agribusinesses that are already registered on the platform.
“The Africa Continental Free Trade Area is expanding opportunities for all Africans, and as
African women, we will not miss out on these opportunities to advance women empowerment,” said Onsongo.
She noted that the meeting in Nairobi was the first step in an
effort to bring the VALUE4HER platform to country levels, to local partners, financing institutions among other important players in the agribusiness sector.
