In line with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion’s priority of gender equality and women economic empowerment, Connect Women in Business aims to enable women in their respective projects, growing them to cooperative level so that they can contributing to sustaining their livelihoods.
This year, the program, which is funded by MTN Foundation, was launched in Karenge Sector, Rwamagana District. Twenty women-led saving groups have been pre- selected from all over the country with five saving groups per category: Agriculture, Art, Women in Digital and Women with disabilities.
These twenty saving groups were chosen based on the performance of their ongoing projects. This phase of identifying the twenty savings groups was supported by our partners Africa Evangelistic Enterprise Rwanda (AEE Rwanda), a local Christian NGO dedicated to working with families to eradicate poverty and the National Union of Disability Organizations in Rwanda (NUDOR), the umbrella organization that exists to strengthen the voice of the disability movement in Rwanda.
Commenting on the development, Jackline Kamanzi, National Women’s Council Executive Secretary said: “We are pleased to support this great annual initiative by MTN Rwanda. Connect Women in Business has, for the past two years, contributed to our mission to build women’s capacity and ensure their participation in the national development through their diverse projects. Furthermore, this initiative also offers the much-needed encouragement to women-led saving groups to keep the momentum of hard work, discipline and perseverance because they yield results.”
The next round of this program will consist of interviews with judges from MTN Rwanda, National Women’s Council and NUDOR that will result in the selection of the top three winners who will travel to Kigali for the final round and stand a chance to win the grand prize of Two Million Rwandan Francs.
Zulfat Mukarubega, MTN Rwanda Foundation Board of Directors Chairperson expressed delight for the launch of 3rd edition ‘of this empowering initiative’ and thanked partners for their support to make the program a success.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the continued support of the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion through the National Women’s Council. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our other partners, AEE Rwanda and NUDOR, who have been instrumental in selecting the women savings groups and following up with their respective projects. We understand the value that women add to the community and are confident the saving groups selected will contribute to the overall growth of the economy,” she said.
The Top three winners from the second round will undergo a Master Class in the areas of Taxes, Legal, Digital Marketing, Saving schemes, Conflict Resolution and Gender equality & Human Rights, which will aid in growing their businesses with the aim of creating wealth.
Mitwa Ng’ambi, MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer, underscored during the ceremony in Rwamagana District that anyone who supports a woman is supporting an entire community.
“We have seen this countless times in our societies and it’s no different for these women saving groups. Each saving group was selected from a critical category that represents much of our economy today: agriculture, arts, women in digital and women with disability. We encourage more women to join saving groups to eradicate poverty, sustain their families and grow their nation,” she said.
MTN Connect Women in Business continues to create shared value in the community, resulting in sustainable living for all by supporting cooperatives of vulnerable groups such as teen mothers and women and girls in single-parent households.
{{About National Women’s Council}}
The National Women’s Council mission is to build women’s capacity and ensure their participation in national development through advocacy and social mobilization. The National Women’s Council is an organ responsible for advocacy, capacity building, and social mobilization under the guidance and supervision of the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.
{{About MTN Rwandacell }}
MTN Rwandacell Plc (MTN Rwanda) is the market leader in mobile telecommunications in Rwanda. Since 1998, we have continuously invested in expanding and modernising our network and are the country’s No 1 network. MTN Rwanda offers various services to subscribers, including innovative propositions such as personalised voice and data offers with MTN Irekure. The company is also the front runner in mobile financial services in Rwanda with Mobile Money, MoMoPay and MoKash Loans and Savings.
{{About MTN Foundation}}
MTN Foundation is the vehicle through which MTN implements its Corporate Social Responsibility Programs. MTN Foundation was established in February 2010 and MTN has committed 1% of Profit After Tax (PAT) annually to support the Foundation activities. The Foundation’s focus areas include Education, Youth and Women Empowerment and Environment initiatives. It was created with a focus of giving back to society and “Impacting the quality of lives in our communities in a meaningful way.
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