Business training for female social entrepreneurs
ELEVEN Pacific female-led social ventures still in their early stages have been selected to participate in a six-day entrepreneurship accelerator program in Suva this week.
Through this program, yher Pacific is supporting female entrepreneurs who are building market-based solutions to tackle some of the region’s most pressing social and environmental issues, according to the press release issued by the non-profit organisation.
Using a peer-to-peer review process over the six-day accelerator program, the participants will determine who receives $A7500 ($F11,275) of funding.
At the closing of the program this Friday, participants of the program will pitch their social ventures in front of an exclusive audience consisting of the regions’ key players in the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem who will determine the winner of $A2500 ($F3758) through an audience vote.
Participants are from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Kiribati.
According to the press release, yher is a global program offered by YGAP, an international development not-forprofit with a sustainable and innovative approach to poverty alleviation.
The six-month yher Pacific program provides the best female-led social ventures from across the region with access to world-class business training, a regional and global network of female entrepreneurs, mentoring, coaching and funding.
Sagufta Janif, this year’s Women in Business Fiji award winner for “Aspiring Entrepreneur of the Year”, is one of the participants of the yher Pacific accelerator program.
“It’s only day two but the yher accelerator so far has been an eye-opening process. It’s allowing me to work on bettering my strategic direction especially with sharing ideas with the lovely women I have access to in the program. They have given me so many more ideas on how I can improve my business,” Ms Janif said.