Vodafone Zambia launches ‘Elevate’ campaign for women entrepreneurs

Vodafone Zambia has embarked on an ambitious, long-term campaign aimed at equipping women with the insight of entrepreneurship skills and management expertise under an empowerment and capacity building campaign dubbed ‘Elevate’.

The ‘Elevate’ campaign is based on the company’s philosophy that sustainable support for women’s business development can best be achieved if there is active involvement not only from women business owners and from government but also from private enterprise.

According to company CEO, Lars Stork, national economic development cannot be achieved without the active participation of women in all aspects of life, particularly entrepreneurship.

“There is consensus among scholars that women can play a key role in Zambia’s entrepreneurial phenomenon. At Vodafone Zambia, we recognise this, we understand that empowering women is one of the best investments that can be made for society. Economic independence gives women choices; it enables them to spend more on their families, drive growth in their economies and inspire others in their communities. The Elevate campaign seeks to achieve this end through the power of mobile connectivity,” he said.

The programme, which commenced with 30 women based on the Copperbelt and Lusaka, involved classroom training sessions on topics such as financial management, sales and marketing, customer relations and human resource management. The 4G operator intends to train over 600 women over the next six months.

“Motivated by our conviction in the power of connectivity, we are constantly conceptualising new ways to support women’s entrepreneurial needs. We believe that in the long term, this platform will aid thousands of women to become what they aspire to be. We are convinced that this entrepreneurial mindset will affect future generations who may come to consider self-employment as a natural career option following the example of their parents,” he added.

Findings from the World Economic Forum (WEF) show that participation of women in business activities transforms the quality and the structure of the national workforce; it boosts female career development, self-realisation and job creation.

Source: Vodafone Zambia