As part of efforts to strengthen women in the informal sector, the founder of PRAD Development Consults, Abigail Brepo Ofei, who doubles as the registrar at the Accra Business School has disclosed that it will through its Abigail’s Project equip women with entrepreneurial skills, come May this year.
She said the training will cover women in key markets in Accra and will seek to ensure financial inclusion.
She added that the move is also in line with its vision to inculcate the social entrepreneurship ideas into social work in Ghana and Africa at large, and create a space for building a blend of social and economic value.
The initiative is a build-up on Abigail’s Project’s initial ‘Obaa Mmo’ apron distribution programme, that saw as many women in Tespo market in Batsoonaa – Accra, receiving aprons, and its ‘Knowing Jesus Campaign’ that made available Personal Protection Equipment and Bibles to people.
Ms. Brepo Ofei holds that just as women in the formal sector are appreciated and awarded for making strides, activities must be geared toward supporting and appreciating women in the informal space – a key reason the Abigail’s Project initiatives are targeting them.
“We need to strengthen the women in the informal sector like the market women, food vendors, and others. We started with the ‘Obaa Mmo’ project, where we shared aprons with women at the Tespo market just to appreciate what they do. We will target key markets in Accra. We want to be able to enlighten them more to broaden their scope, especially how they can leverage entrepreneurial skills. The training will be in various parts and will also target physically challenged women. The project is influenced by the foundation’s passion to fuel social projects to impact the informal sector,” she said.
Abigail Magazine
Ms. Brepo also said her outfit will soon launch the Abigail Magazine, which intends to highlight what some women in the informal sector do and have done. Also, how their stories can impact others as a way of appreciating them.
“These are women who have trained the big women in the corporate world, who have become those we admire so much. Some of these women even work for seven days. They are doing so much and we want to appreciate them. Under the Abigail’s Project, we intend to provide platforms for women dubbed: ‘Dairies of Emerging Women’. All things we do under the project is to impact women placing particular attention on the informal sector,” she said.
The boy-child at the crossroads
Under the auspices of the Abigail’s Project, ‘the boy-child at the crossroads documentary’ is also set to be unveiled this year. ‘The boy-child at the crossroads’ is a documentary dedicated to the well-being of the boy-child, to follow the lives of the boy-child in these last years has been extremely important.
Ms. Brepo explained that: “We are in the era where the boy-child is more prone to vices than ever. The wide variety of social media handles and content affords the boy-child uncountable access to vices like ‘sakawa’ and ‘gayism’, which are on the increase. The documentary, however, seeks to help raise the boy-child to be a responsible leader for tomorrow”.
