Accra, Sept.30, GNA — Ignite, a flagship programme of Guzakuza, an Agriculture Organization that supports women in AgriBusiness, on Thursday graduated 80 cohorts in its fourth Graduation Ceremony in Accra.
The ceremony also marked the fifth Enrollment of 80 young African women drawn from 18 African countries to receive six months training under the programme.
The Programme is being partnered by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Ghana.
In an address, Dr Sylvia Olayinka Blyden OOR, Former Female Cabinet Minister and future Presidential Aspirant for the Presidency of Sierra Leone said to achieve success, participants had to imbibe prayer in everything they did because those who relied on God received the right guidance to achieve greatness.
She also advised them to keep friendships that spurred them on to greatness and cut ties with people who were defeatist minded.
She urged them to also centre their growth around people and help others to climb the ladder of greatness along with them.
She said it was important for them to enrich their knowledge base on daily basis and endeavour to end each day with added knowledge.
Dr Sylvia also urged them to develop a set of moral values that would guide their decisions in life.
“Your moral values should be your backbone and never compromise on them. Strong morals provide inner peace that promotes success,” she advised.
She also encouraged them to invest in Charity work, celebrate other people’s successes and not overlook the importance of family as they were always handy in times of hardships.
Dr Elke Stumpf, Head of Programme, Agribiz, GIZ Ghana said they cherished partnerships with organizations such as Guzakuza, whose vision was to promote women and youth in agribusiness.
She said even though women formed the backbone of the economy, they faced challenges on their path to achieve a successful career, as such, they needed to be be supported in every way possible.
Ms Fortune Kyei, Project Lead of Ignite said Ignite started in 2016 and so far, 161 women had been trained from 16 African counties.
She said the Programme sought to train young women in agribusiness to become resilient in their businesses.
“Most women already have the agri mindset but don’t know how to go about it. So what we do is that we step in, give them the necessary training to help them build their businesses,” she said.
Miss Kyei said this year they received 1440 applications which were shortlisted to 400 and finally they enrolled 80 of them.
Madam Irene Lamptey, a 2020 cohort and the owner of “EasyFoods”, a food processing and packaging company said she heard of Ignite in 2018 but only got the opportunity to enroll under the Programme last year.
She said the training they received had influenced her decision-making abilities which led to a significant boost in her business and an increase in revenue.
She advised the new batch to be committed and take whatever knowledge their instructors would pass on to them seriously to graduate as agents of change and development.
GNA