MTN Rwandacell Launch the 3rd Edition of CWiB Initiative
MTN Rwandacell Plc launched the 3rd edition of Connect Women in Business (CWiB) Initiative ahead of Women’s month in March in partnership with the National Women Council, AEE and NUDOR. This initiative that commenced two years ago has supported 56 women saving groups so far, both financially and through business acumen training to further propel them in their respective fields.
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.
MoMo customers and MoMoPaThis 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.
“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.”
Jackline Kamanzi, Council Executive Secretary, National Women
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.
“We are pleased to launch our 3rd edition of this empowering initiative, MTN Connect Women in Business. 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.”
Zulfat Mukarubega, Board of Directors Chairperson, MTN Rwanda Foundation
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.
“Anyone who supports a woman is really 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.”
Mitwa Ng’ambi, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Rwanda
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.
