Tech giant partners She Leads Africa to support female entrepreneurs

folarin okunola

August 22, 2016 1:46 PM

She Leads Africa has built a global community of more than 100,000 members across Africa and the diaspora in just two years.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks on stage during the Facebook F8 conference in San Francisco, California April 12, 2016. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

She Leads Africa’s hugely successful bootcamp programme, SheHive, was held in London from August 18th-21st 2016.

The four-day event took place at Facebook HQ in London and featured some of the city’s leading African and diaspora entrepreneurs and business women, who shared insight and advice, as well as lead workshops on building business skills for the future.

“Facebook is where African consumers connect with African entrepreneurs, with millions of people across the continent using our platform to communicate with small businesses each month,” said Akua Gyekye, Public Policy Manager for Africa at Facebook.

“Over 60 million businesses are using Facebook to help grow their business and connect with customers. While many of the owners and founders are African women, there should be more. That’s why we are delighted to support She Leads Africa as it enables young African women to connect, learn and share in a supportive and inspirational environment.”

She Leads Africa Co-founder Afua Osei said: “Men dominate the business and corporate landscape in Africa, but we have the opportunity to change things now by nurturing female African entrepreneurs on the continent and in the diaspora. As a company that empowers entrepreneurs with tools to tell their brand stories and grow their businesses, Facebook is a perfect partner for us.”

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“We are eager to help more African women turn their businesses into realities because we believe that this will help their families, communities and countries to prosper,” said Gyekye.

“Female-owned businesses lift up other women, create jobs and inspire other girls and women to start businesses of their own. We want to work with female entrepreneurs to use our mobile tools to communicate with their customers in a relevant and personalised way.”

SheHive London, an open event, gave access to over 15 expert-led, training sessions covering the topics that young professional women need to know in order to succeed.

Speakers included:

SheHive will also be moving on to Johannesburg and Lagos in 2016.

folarin okunola