WomenWork Network Celebrates First Cohort In Ghana

WomenWork Network graduates its first Ghana cohort made up of women business owners completing the 3-month program.

WomenWork Network, an organization advancing African businesswomen to success, hosted its first Capstone Day of the Catapult Program in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Catapult, the pilot program of WomenWork Network, was co-created with Argidius Foundation and aims to enable existing women-owned MSMEs across diverse sectors to grow their revenue.

Running across Kenya and Ghana, the program empowers women through a coaching program that provides business knowledge, access to networks and technical support. Catapult helps these businesses to obtain a higher success launch rate as well as scale up newly launched products and services.

The ‘Capstone Day’ culminates the 3 months program of learning. Participants from Cohort 1 pitch their new product or service to a room of potential partners and funders.

In Ghana, this year’s cohort of Catapult participants include Isabella Naana Asante, founder of Isabella, a large-scale medical supply and distributing company, alongside Alima Bello, founder of BelloEdu, a contemporary women’s fashion brand manufacturing clothes from locally sourced fabrics in order to promote local jobs and empower local talent.

Bello and Asante were joined by Yvonne Fladioe of Tornyé, a Ghanaian brand specializing in unique, high-end products for an international market, and Asha Bello, founder of Cheeky Monkey, a provider of after-school services to young children. UrbanGeekz founder and CEO Kunbi Tinuoye was invited as a guest and panelist at the first Capstone Day in Accra.

WomenWork Network has currently trained more than 2,500 women-owned businesses across East Africa. The community now includes over 5,000 ambitious female professionals. Founded in Kenya with pan-African ambition by Isis Nyong’o & Asha Mweru, WomenWork is focused on the advancement of African women through digital communities, skill enhancement, and access to opportunities to improve their chances of success.

WomenWork’s Cofounder, Asha Mweru said, “The Catapult Program combines Coaching, Courses, and Community where women business owners get access to coaches, a curriculum curated with insights from the African market and thoughtfully picked accountability partners to keep them accountable and motivated.”

She also noted that a unique value add to the Catapult Program is the contribution of Industry Insiders from Accra and Nairobi who provided insights from lived experience and who were also present on Capstone Day to provide real-time industry feedback as the participants presented a soft launch of their new products and services.

Head coaches on the Catapult program include Herbert Thuo, CEO of the ANSA, a business development service for startups in Africa, and Felicia Mensah, Director at Spring-Forth Foods in Ghana. Spring-Forth provides business support services to SMEs in recruiting and management.

Find out more about the Catapult Program here. Applications for cohort 2 are now open.