Hilary Clinton Honours Women Participants at African Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme
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October 5, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke at the African Women’s Entrepreneurship programme to empower women to continue growing their businesses.
Women entrepreneurs from all over the world joined together to take part in the African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) on Tuesday.
Held in the Department of State building, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton delivered a speech to the women attending.
The three-week programme aims to provide African women entrepreneurs with professional and development training as well as networking opportunities.
AWEP is a department of State’s partnership with the secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, the Bureau of African Affairs and the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs.
This initiative, which first started last year, seeks to empower women by expanding opportunities for entrepreneurs for exports and US investment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
They provide business owners with the tools to export to the US under the terms of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
This will help women who are expanding their businesses by increasing their export capacities as well as strengthening partnerships with US partners.
This programme recognises the role women play as advocates for strengthening national business climates for all women; and will implement follow up programmes for participants to pass on their knowledge learnt from the next three weeks.
Hilary Clinton spoke to the women on the first day of the programme: “It is for me a great honour to host you.
“I am here to really not only thank you, but to encourage you – to encourage you to keep making the contacts, building networks, making the changes that will really revolutionise what women are doing around the world.
“You have many friends and supporters back here in the United States. And we will try to help you break down the barriers and hurdles that you encounter.
“You heard that there is a need to support women to travel those great long distances across Africa, to meet with one another, to share ideas, to start businesses. And we will do our best to help you make the difference in your own lives.
“So we have faith in you, and we have faith in Africa, but we think Africa will grow more sustainably if women are full partners in that growth. So we intend to do everything we can to work with you.”
By Rebekah Bickerton
[Image Courtesy of kakissel ]
