Article Summary
- WITH is a two-year initiative that aims to skill and empower a new generation of women intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and business owners
- Seven organisations from Africa and Europe partnered to form a consortium and launched the project
- The key objectives are to introduce and promote concepts of sustainable tourism and hospitality, among others.
WITH is a two-year initiative by AWIEF that aims to skill and empower a new generation of women intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and business owners.
The first objective of the WITH project is to empower young women with the soft skills and personal and social competencies needed to succeed as entrepreneurs. The project seeks to give women the knowledge and tools they need to successfully navigate the opportunities and challenges in the hospitality and tourism sectors by offering training and support.
Seven organisations from Africa and Europe partnered to form a consortium and launched the project, WITH: Boosting Women Entrepreneurship Education in Tourism and Hospitality in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Co-funded by the European Union, WITH was officially launched recently in Seville, Spain.
The partner organisations are Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), South Africa; Seville Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation, Spain; International Consulting and Mobility Agency (INCOMA), Spain; Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Nigeria; Centro Studi e Iniziative Europeo (CESIE), Italy; Equip Consulting Group, Malawi; and Gift Women Link Foundation, Uganda.
The two-year initiative of WITH aims to equip and empower a new generation of women intrapreneurs, business owners, and entrepreneurs who are concerned about the environment and sustainability to succeed in the tourism and hospitality sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
WITH’s key objectives
With a focus on empowering young women, WITH seeks to:
- Introduce and advance sustainable tourism and hospitality concepts
- Assist educators and trainers in keeping their knowledge and methods current with the demands of the labour market and global best practices
- Create experiential learning opportunities through collaboration with public and private institutions engaged in vocational education and training.
Benefits of the program
- WITH will have more than 20 years of experience in highly relevant projects, such as ATHENA, SMART Volunteering for Female Migrants, CulTVET and EU4BCC, among others.
- It promotes women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship and tourism
- Develop several initiatives in this field, providing training and coaching opportunities to people interested in starting a business, these will be capitalised and all experiences to make a positive contribution to the WITH project.
- The WITH Project will inspire young women to seize opportunities, overcome challenges and actualize their entrepreneurial goals
- It circumvents existing barriers to economic development in our country
What they said
Francisco Herrero León, President of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation of Seville, welcomed the WITH partners at their headquarters for kick-off and said that the organization was very proud of being involved in a project where entrepreneurship and women are linked.
According to Francisco Herrero León,
- “At the Seville Chamber of Commerce, we are working intensely to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem every day, especially in recent years, we are boosting the role of women entrepreneurs, supporting them through programmes and initiatives. We hope to continue helping women entrepreneurs around the world thanks to the WITH project.
- “The kick-off meeting has been just a starting point of inspiring organisations. During these two years, the European and African entities involved will work together to reinforce the entrepreneurial mindset of young women in Sub-Saharan African countries and bring sustainability consciousness to the new generations in the fields of tourism and hospitality”, she said.
AWIEF Founder and CEO, Irene Ochem, added
- We are passionate about helping African women entrepreneurs build and scale the next generation of innovative and sustainable businesses that impact the lives of all of us in the coming years”.
- “We are taking this to the next level by engaging in effective multi-stakeholder partnerships as the WITH project, to mobilize and share knowledge, expertise and resources to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.”
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