THE COCA-COLA FOUNDATION LAUNCHES THE “JAMII FEMMES” WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM IN KENYA
Written by Elizabeth Nyambura on October 18, 2022
- Kenya is one of the 10 African Countries selected to benefit from the Programme
- 687 female entrepreneurs have been selected in the first cohort
- The programme will focus on women with innovative solutions for sustainable development
H.E the Second Lady, Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi speaks during the launch of Coca- Cola Foundation Jamii Femmes program at the University of Nairobi.
Nairobi, October 14th 2022… The Coca-Cola Foundation in partnership with Women in Africa (WIA), the world’s international platform for the economic development and support of African women has flagged off the first cohort of 687 beneficiaries of its Jamii Femme program in Kenya.
The female entrepreneurs are currently engaged in a year-long program being conducted by WIA’s knowledge partner, Honoris United Universities.
H.E the second Lady, Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi (left), interacts with, Coca-Cola Vice President, East & Central Africa Franchise, Debra Mallowah. This was during the launch of Coca-Cola Foundation Jamii Femmes program.
The sessions which began in September 2022, will equip the women to take a principled approach to designing 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 programme 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.
H.E the Second Lady, Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi (right), interacts with, Coca-Cola Vice President, East & Central Africa Franchise, Debra Mallowah. This was during the launch of Jamii Femmes program.
Speaking at the launch event held at the University of Nairobi, which hosted participating women entrepreneurs from Kenya, Debra Mallowah, Vice President, 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 build on the previous milestones from our 5by20 programme (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.”
From left: Coca- Cola Africa, Director Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability East and Central Africa Franchise, Diana Apiyo, H.E the second Lady, Pastor Dr. Dorcas Rigathi, Coca-Cola Vice President, East & Central Africa Franchise, Debra Mallowah and Eva Muraya, WIA Kenya Ambassador.
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 programme aims to support women entrepreneurs based in 3 countries: Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.
The panelists, from right: Coca-Cola Africa, Director Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability East and Central Africa Franchise, Diana Apiyo, WIA Kenyan Ambassador, Eva Muraya, Jamii Femme Beneficiary- Co-Founder Pensoft Systems Ltd, Lynette Kinyua, Mojo Skincare Products Ltd- Managing Director, Judith Asino and the Moderator, Caroline Mutoko.
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 to sustainable development goals. The initiative aims to impact 20,000 women entrepreneurs from 10 African countries over the next three years.
For more information on the programme, click here: https://wia-initiative.com/jamii-femmes-eng/
About WIA Initiative
Launched in 2017, and chaired by Hafsat Abiola, Women in Africa (WIA) Initiative is the first international platform dedicated to the economic development and support of African women entrepreneurs. At WIA, we are convinced that Pan-African women’s contributions, through their actions, will be decisive in terms of the positive change and impact they will have on the continent’s progress. To support them, the most important programmes WIA offers are:
- WIA 54, an annual pan-African competition for women-led entrepreneurial projects.
- WIA HUBS, which aims to support African women entrepreneurs locally
- WIA MENTORING, a programme aimed at mentoring the many African talents.
- WIA YOUNG LEADERS, a programme to identify and support young leaders across the continent.
- WIA CODE programme, focused on teaching computer skills to the next generation.
About The Coca-Cola Foundation
The Coca-Cola Foundation is the global philanthropic arm of The Coca-Cola Company. Since its inception in 1984, the Foundation has invested more than $1.2 billion in grant awards to support sustainable community initiatives around the world focused on water stewardship, community recycling, women’s empowerment, education and youth development. For more information about The Coca-Cola Foundation, please visit:
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/shared- future/communities/the-coca-cola-foundation
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