Empower Marginalized Young Women in Ghana

Dear Friends,

Once our Business 101 course began, it became clear that interesting business ideas are taking shape in a small group of young women on a dusty compound in the rural communities of Ghana’s Eastern Region.

On the first day of the course, I realized it was going to be a challenge. One of the young women said to me, “Madam Janine, you are speaking big English to us. Please can you speak small English?” Luckily, I have an amazing team of ABAN trainers and volunteers – Gabriel, Doris and Joshua – and they put unreserved passion and energy into making these “big English” business concepts accessible to our students.

On Day One, we learned how business works. Instead of the proverbial lemonade stand, we had Vida and Augustina set up a mock pineapple juice stand. The women learned words like products, expenses, profits, employees and salaries.

On Day Two, we brought the concepts to life. Augustina brought some huge pineapples from her family farm, and we made our first batch of Happy Pineapple Juice. The women learned about equipment and what happens when your juicer breaks! Mercy brought in her own product, mixing passion fruit with pineapple juice. Then the class discussed her supply chain, because Mercy only knows one person who grows passion fruit.

We also discussed how the women currently earn money. Patience said she could sell cabbages next to the road and make about $5 – on a good day. She spoke about being tired for class and how her body ached from fetching produce to sell at market. When I asked whether she wants her daughter to grow up to earn money the same way, her response was a very strong “No!”

Eunice described how she would take her cloth to market and everyone would tell her to make her prices cheaper and cheaper. When she got home, she often found she had not made money at all. So we ended up talking about bargaining and pricing strategies, and the students learned about the profit/loss equation. Complex topics, but each day these words and concepts became clearer to the students.  

All of this was inspiring, but the best was yet to come. By late Friday, the students were beginning to come up with more business ideas of their own. This in itself was profound. When we started our program in October, the women thought of their futures in limited terms: become a seamstress, sell things by the roadside or work on a farm. Now we could see their minds working. We could sense a change in the questions they asked, and we could witness their inspiration as we talked about angel investment and incubating good business ideas.

Eunice was the most eager. She kept jumping up and asking us to let her try to explain. She gave great examples that showed she understood. My favorite moment was at one point where she was bouncing up and down eagerly, talking in Twi, and I asked Gaby what she was saying. And what he said blew me way. “Eunice is saying her brain is on fire!”

If there was ever proof that we are igniting even the smallest of sparks in the minds of these young women, then this is it. Their heads are starting to burst with activity and ideas. Maybe that should be our new name for our course – not Business 101, but Brains on Fire!