Ghana currently has the highest percentage of women in business on the African continent. At 46%, nearly half of businesses in Ghana are owned by women.
The Kodjoe Gabai Bloomberg (KGB) Project advocates for diversity inclusion, wealth creation paths, and opportunities for direct financial independence for young women in Africa. Under SIA-Africa’s Madiba initiative, the KGB Project collaborated with the SIA-Africa Country Project Manager, Mrs Princess Osei-Kuffuor, to support a group of female college students. The collaboration used money raised by Veronique Gabai to acquire shares from communications giants MTN as seed capital for the group. The students will be supported while pursuing careers in Health, Tourism,urban planning, architecture and Creative Arts management. We will continue to seek more global partners, to ensure we make consistent sustainable investments in more young women across Africa, by providing them seed capital on an annual basis.
VIDEO OF STUDENTS EXPRESSING APPRECIATION FOR THE OPPORTUNITIES MADE POSSIBLE TO THEM :
Gocreate Studio is an information and technology start-up based in Ghana. It was founded in 2007 and gained its first major client, GLITZ Africa Magazine, in 2010. For the past eight years, Gogreate has focused on the stages of learning, experimenting, and churning out new products.
However, it has been challenged in the past three years with expanding its client base and collecting payments for past services. Gocreate Studio sought the assistance of SIA-Africa for these issues. As a result of the intervention of some of our funds allocated to our Madiba All for Africa by our founding Chairman, Gocreate was able to launch new products to ensure company survival and secure an office at Trade Fair Ghana. SIA-Africa’s leadership, advice, and guidance is crucial to the sustainability of this small software company and continues to enable Gocreate to stay focused and most importantly, contribute its quota to the economy of Ghana. The idea is to find sustainable partners who will support Gocreate annually with $10,000, for at least five years straight so they expand and grow.
To find out more, visit https://gocreatestudio.com/
Accra Academy was founded in 1931 as the first private secondary educational institution to be established in Ghana. With about 2,000 students today, Accra Academy has been ranked 8th out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa.
As part of our core mandate to improve STEM education, we partnered with the Bleeo ‘91 alumni group of Accra Academy under our Betsy Hilfiger Edikanfo Initiative to support current students with resources for their STEM & Robotics club. The club is designed to help students master the fundamentals of robotics, programming and the engineering design process. It teaches how to apply existing knowledge of science and mathematics to solve real life problems and aims to strengthen members’ critical thinking skills across STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
SIA-Africa’s funding partner, Annette Meil, and her company Perles d’Amour NYC provided the funding for the robotics equipment. Mr Asamoah Boahene, president of the Bleoo ‘91 alumni group, presented the resources to the Headmaster.
SIA-Africa is committed to supporting this initiative and is actively looking for funding partners who have an interest in improving STEM studies in Africa.
In January 2020, SIA-Africa partnered with Ghana Girl Guides Association and co-organized an event with a special guest speaker, Mrs. Ursula Ofuatey Kodjoe. Mrs. Ofuatey Kodjoe led the session “The Trafficking of Ghanaian Girls into households in the Middle East” along with members and partners from SIA-Africa.
Under our Betsy Hilfiger Edikanfo Initiative SIA-Africa partnered with others to facilitate virtual speakers for the Ghana Girl Guides’ “Be Inspired” series for young women across Africa. SIA-Africa is looking forward to partnering with others to advocate for GGGA during their centenary celebration in December 2021.
Under our Madiba All for Africa Initiative the Africa Smart Cities project is committed to training students in technology driven City planning and Economic impact strategies. It is estimated that two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. As people move to urban centers looking for better opportunities and brighter futures, cities in Africa will become the biggest agents for change. However with rising populations, cities will face bigger challenges and increasing demands for services.
Now, more than ever, the decisions and actions of students, municipal governments, private sector investors and other stakeholders will have a resonating impact – not only for their residents, but for global visitors and investors who go to these cities in Africa.
We will work with Foundation for Nation Builders (FfNB) to mobilize students to contribute to the work being done by Trans Africa Railway Corp (TARC 1) & Trade Acceleration by Regional Connectivity (TARC 2). We also intend to have FfNB beneficiary students research and analyze the work of AfCFTA and Borderless Alliance through internship programs.
We will be seeking sustainable partners from the academic world, tech world and also impact investments from diverse industries to support projects that are geared toward developing human capital and creating well planned environmentally sustainable smart cities for economic prosperity.
Today, in the 21st Century, across Africa, 28 million girls between the ages of 6 and 15 are not in school and many will never be in a classroom. Primary education of women is still at a strikingly low rate of 67 %, with only 51 % of all women above the age of 15 being able to read and write (68 % for men).
There is an urgent need to give young girls access to a sustainable education and that is why SIA-Africa is partnering with St Mary’s Old Girls Association (SMOGA) ’92 & ’93 to promote STEM study for students at St Mary’s High School for Girls.
There are some computers in the school but internet access is woefully inadequate and hinders effective teaching and learning. Without sufficient internet connection, the girls fall behind in the knowledge of much needed STEM courses. In the future, the school would benefit from additional computers. Currently, access to internet is paramount for a modernized curriculum. The demand for a fully functioning science lab, for example, will be mitigated if students can do lab work virtually. Without the internet, students are relegated to narrow concepts, remain inadequately stimulated, and graduate ill-prepared to effectively participate in a fiercely competitive global labour market. Our goal is to work with SMOGA ’92 & ’93 to find other partners who will team up with us to create awareness about the needs and find funding to support
St Mary’s High School for Girls is located in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and has 850 students. 750 of these students board. However, the dormitories were not in a suitable condition to house the girls. Marie-Ann Ocansey, SIA-Africa Strategic Development Partner and St Mary’s alumnus, commented, “I would like to be proud of my school and the facilities that we offer to our young women, because I have three daughters and I would love for them to come to this school, but not in this state.”
In 2018, St Mary’s were able to improve their dormitories using funds released by SIA-Africa. Although this enabled significant improvements to be made, observations indicate that capital contributions are still needed to bring to dormitories to acceptable living standards. The Betsy Hilfiger Edifanko Initiative will seek to remedy these issues as well as provide other resources and support to St Mary’s.
Andrew Adansi Bonnah was a student at Accra Academy. While studying, Andrew had an inspirational goal to step up food production and security in Ghana. Using funds raised by SIA-Africa and other resources from Arieli Ltd, Andrew established the Food For All campaign which aims to provide affordable food sources to underprivileged families. Today, about 1.2 million people, representing 5% of Ghana’s population, are still food insecure.
The Food For All campaign includes a gardening competition for school children throughout the country. Andrew hopes the program will help more students get involved in studying agriculture and SIA-Africa is committed to supporting students and young professionals with agriculture businesses.
SIA-Africa would like to pay special thanks to Annette Meil and Diane Wiktorowski for donating 100% of the funds that supported Andrew.
