The U.S. Embassy Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) launched the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) in partnership between Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and global copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan, to provide women entrepreneurs with the knowledge, networks, and access they require to establish and expand their businesses.
AWE was developed to be a flexible education opportunity for dynamic women to learn how to develop and grow their businesses. It is centred around the online training program on women’s entrepreneurship, DreamBuilder, developed through a partnership between Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and global copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan. SHONA collaborates with the U.S. Embassy to implement the program.
On top of acquiring new knowledge and skills from the program, the graduates also learn from their peers who are exposed to US models for business development and will qualify to apply for funding from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) and can access investments between UGX 3.5 million and UGX 35 million from SHONA Capital, a debt fund run by SHONA. Additionally, the graduates officially become alumni of US government exchange programs joining other AWE alumnae and fellows from various US Embassy programs.
For the past five years, the US Embassy in Kampala, in partnership with SHONA Group, Atiak, Kustawi Africa, and iProfile Foundation, has supported the implementation of the AWE program, graduating 748 women entrepreneurs from the program in Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, Arua, Lira, Gulu, Kabarole and Mbarara districts. To honour these women and their achievements, we organised a one-day conference themed “Celebrating Uganda’s Women Entrepreneurs.”
The conference attracted over 350 women entrepreneurs who have participated in the AWE program, representatives of the US Embassy in Kampala, partner organisations, key stakeholders and other representatives of the Ugandan entrepreneur ecosystem including investors and industry leaders.