An International Non Governmental Organisation, NGO, Ashoka in partnership with the United Parcel Service UPS is set to promote equity and economic empowerment for marginalised communities in Africa through its Pan-African project.
The Vice President of one of the arms of the Organisation, Empathy Ashoka Africa, Angelou Ezeilo, said the programme is aimed at supporting 15 social entrepreneurs and fellows from Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa, to accelerate change and drive impact for the marginalised communities.
Mrs. Ezeilo made this known at a three-day Ashoka UPS Equity Accelerator workshop held in Lagos.
She said that the selected entrepreneurs were picked based on their community work to help in ensuring that the empowerment gets to the target communities.
“The whole thing is to increase equity for all. We’re working with the UPS foundation to help scale the impact of their work. We want to increase the number of beneficiaries through this partnership in one year, “ She reiterated.
Mrs. Ezeilo also urged the entrepreneurs to work together and share ideas to help them achieve their aim.
”We are hoping that there will be collaborations between the social entrepreneurs so that they can work on an initiative in their sector and then receive funds for the initiatives,” she advised.
The Regional Director of Ashoka Africa, Josephine Nzerem advised African women to break out of limitation and use the resources around them to build themselves and their society.
”African women, do not look at limitations. Use whatever you have and start building on it, a lot of lives will be affected positively. It is important for us to reach greater equity for women, children and marginalized people for them to be able to thrive and also contribute to the society economically,” She stated.
Some of the Participants included Adnane Addidoi from Morocco, Tony Joy and Ikenna Anyadike from Nigeria and winnie Martins from South Africa.
They reiterated the need for more collaborations among African entrepreneurs thanking the organisers for finding them worthy.
Lateefah Ibrahim
