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COMESA Launches “Women In Business” Campaign

by Kudakwashe Vhenge

By Lerato Ndlovu


The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in partnership with other blocs in Africa recently launched the ‘30 days of women in business’ regional campaign to popularize a platform for women in business known as 50 Million African Women Speak (50MAWSP). 


The platform seeks to inform and create a networking hub for women that will operate as a one stop shop for them to start, grow and scale up their businesses and to access financial and non-financial services. 


In a statement by COMESA, the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), stated that the project is funded by the African Development Bank (AFDB) and seeks to enable 38 countries in the three regional blocs to participate.


“The project is funded by (AfDB) and enables women in 38 countries in the three regional blocs to find information on how to run businesses, where to access financial services, how to create business opportunities online and where to access training resources, among others. 


COMESA Secretary General, Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe said she sees the campaign as a great step in driving awareness about the platform which allows African women to engage in peer-to-peer learning, mentoring and knowledge sharing. 


“I view this campaign as a catalyst in creating the much-needed push to bring more of our women to connect, network and ultimately benefit from this platform. The campaign’s appeal for women to identify and celebrate their most admired women entrepreneurs speaks to a key facet of the 50 Million African Women Speak initiative, which is facilitating support and mentorship by women for women,” Ms. Kapwepwe said.


The campaign invites women in the regions to log onto the platform at www.womenconnect.org, or to download the 50MAWSP app from the Google or Apple stores in order to participate.

They would be then expected to short stories about their most admired businesswomen giving the reasons why, and what they would tell them if they had a chance to meet them in person. The most compelling of these submissions will be published on the platform and those who submitted them may have an opportunity to meet their role models. 


The campaign will run on radio stations and social media channels over the next one month, and aims to promote the platform in Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sudan, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe—the Member States where COMESA is implementing the 50 Million African Women Speak Project. 


The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community established by Treaty in 1994. It brings together 21 Member States with a population of more than 583 million into a cooperative framework for sustainable economic growth and prosperity through regional integration.

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