By: Joyce Kantam Kolamong
The GloryHill Women Empowerment Foundation, a Tamale-based NGO, has celebrated its 10th anniversary with a Northern Women Entrepreneurship Conference in Tamale. The event focused on empowering women entrepreneurs in the region by encouraging them to look beyond regional boundaries for opportunities.
The GloryHill Women Empowerment Foundation is a non-governmental organization focused on empowering women in the Northern Region of Ghana, particularly through vocational skills training and entrepreneurship development.
Founded in 2015, the foundation has been celebrating its 10th anniversary with various events, including the Northern Women Entrepreneurship Conference and the graduation of women from free vocational training programmes.
Speaking at the conference, CEO of GloryHill Women Empowerment Foundation, Mrs. Gloria Abiwu highlighted the foundation’s achievements over the past decade. She noted that more than 6,000 women have been empowered through the foundation’s leadership and entrepreneurship programmes. She said last year alone, the foundation brought together over 1,005 women from diverse backgrounds in the northern region for a landmark event in a bid to build their capabilities.
“It’s a first of all programme that has never been heard of that we’re able to bring 1,000 women from diverse backgrounds. The security forces were there, people from different institutions, people from the mosques, the churches, bringing them all together, I think it’s a great achievement that I think Gloryhill has done. And not only that, we have empowered more than 6,000 women over the years in vocational skills training, we don’t take any money from them, we just train them for free. Our achievement is that after helping the women with their free vocational skills, we go a long way by establishing them so that they can have something doing at once”, Mrs Abiwu indicated.
Deputy Secretary General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Dr. Nadia Ibrahim, emphasized the importance of women entrepreneurs looking beyond local boundaries for opportunities in Ghana, Africa, and globally. She acknowledged the importance of women entrepreneurs engaging in global platforms to boost their businesses and economic well-being.
“So, the gathering here today has a lot of powerful women who have come together to create a platform for women entrepreneurs who train and train out women entrepreneurs into the business ecosystem of Ghana. Coming here was just to put a lot of light on how ambitious we should be as women who are located in the north, who meet challenges, which Glory Hill is helping to put out, so we train women entrepreneurs. Women in the north must endeavor to look beyond the boundaries of the northern region. We should look at the opportunities Ghana presents. We should look at the opportunities Africa presents. And also, we should look at the opportunities that the world presents to women in the area of entrepreneurship”, She emphasized.
Managing Director of Tekura Designs in Tamale, Audrey Forson, shared her personal story of overcoming challenges in entrepreneurship and stressed the need for women to support each other in a patriarchal society.
The 10th anniversary saw the graduation of 125 women who completed training in various vocational skills.
The conference was aimed at promoting women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship in the northern region, encouraging women to break barriers and unlock opportunities.
