WECREATE Center opens doors to Women Entrepreneurs

The Women’s Entrepreneurial Centers of Resources, Education, Access, and Training for Economic Empowerment (WECREATE) was launched last week with US Ambassador Robert Godec, and joins a number of other centers lunched to help empower women by promoting entrepreneurship opportunities globally, tailored to provide education and tools specifically to help women. The center is one of three announced by President Obama during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in July, 2015. Read more at the link, follow WECREATE Kenya on Twitter at @WECREATEKENYA, or visit the center online to learn more.

herbusiness.co.ke - The WECREATE center opened its doors last week, launched by the US Ambassador, Bob Godec. The centre aims to mentor and empower women entrepreneurs.

Based in Lavington, the centre is a fulfillment of one of the promises made by President Barack Obama during last year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Nairobi last year.

The WECREATE Kenya Women Entrepreneurship Center is a project of the United States Department of State and the Caterpillar Foundation.

“The center should collaborate with public institutions in enhancing the skills of businesswomen and expanding their businesses beyond the borders,” Said Sicily Kariuki, the Public Service Cabinet Secretary.

The WECREATE Center is the second one to be opened in Africa and it serves as an entrepreneurial community center for women interested in starting or expanding an existing business. The Center provides mentoring, business connections, specialized training, connections to the community, media attention, access to markets and capital along with the technical tools and resources necessary for taking any business to the next level.

Read the rest here.

US opens enterprise hub in Nairobi for women

businessdailyafrica.com - Women now have a new avenue through which to start and expand their businesses after the United States government kept its word to establish a tailor-made entrepreneurial center in the country.

The U.S.-funded business center situated in Lavington, Nairobi, will provide mentoring, business connections, specialized training, access to market and capital for budding women entrepreneurs.

A number of highly practical programs aimed at accelerating growth of businesses will also be implemented at the center.

This is the brainchild of the Women’s Entrepreneurial Centers of Resources, Education, Access and Training for Economic Empowerment (WACREATE), a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (EB) and StartUp Cup.

“The center is a wonderful resource for empowering women from all walks of life who are interested in starting a business,” US Ambassador Robert Godec said when he presided over the opening of the center last week.

“It fulfills a promise President Barack Obama made during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in July 2015.”

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Kenya tackles poverty by sending teen mothers back to school

Kenya faces high teen pregnancy rates, especially among poorer citizens--and due to demands of motherhood and stigma, most young women who drop out of school due to pregnancy never return to continue their education. Efforts to help students get and stay in school have been slow-going, even though free primary education was introduced in Kenya more than a decade ago, and the figures for secondary schooling are even more bleak. This is especially unfortunate because young mothers are among those who could benefit most from education, which helps them achieve higher earnings and have fewer, but healthier, pregnancies and babies.

Projects like Jielimishe work to change that and provide access to education for many more young women. The organization provides fees, textbooks, uniforms and sanitary towels so young women can attend and stay in school, and is also working to challenge preconceptions. Click through to read the full story.

reuters.com - Laikipia, KENYA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Christine Gathoni dreamed of becoming a doctor, not a patient, grimacing in pain as she pushed her baby girl into the world.

But boredom and frustration at her parents' inability to pay for her education led her to sex, pregnancy and motherhood at the age of 19 with only two years of secondary education to go.

"I was idle and my boyfriend asked me out," she said, looking pensive. "After a few weeks, I realized I was pregnant."

Two out of five 19-year-old women in Kenya are either pregnant or have given birth, with the highest rates among the poorest, according to government statistics.

Their parents often encourage them to get married to escape the stigma of being a single mother.

The persistent cultural belief that girls who have given birth are adults - who have no place in a classroom - also means that as many as nine in 10 Kenyan girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy never return.

Gathoni, however, was determined to complete her education.