Terra Academy for the Arts (TAFTA) in collaboration with MasterCard has trained 150 young women entrepreneurs in Kano state, as part of efforts to promote economic empowerment and reduce vulnerability among women.
TAFTA Programme Manager, Abubakar Balarabe, disclosed this during a women creative summit held in Kano, with participants aged 18 to 35, alongside employers, development partners and industry stakeholders to showcase skills, products and creative talents.
Balarabe said the summit was aimed at linking skills acquisition to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
He said participants were trained in animation, script writing, art, business and entrepreneurship, sound design and stage lighting, adding that the programme is implemented in Kano, Lagos and Ogun states.
He noted that the initiative, now in its fourth year in Kano, deliberately targets young women because of their vulnerability and the wider social benefits of empowering them economically.
He added that beneficiaries are supported beyond training through business development clinics and free registration of businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to enable them formalise and grow their enterprises.
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Chief Operating Officer of Bridge Connect Africa Initiative, Fatima Musa, said women’s economic participation remains critical to sustainable development, stressing the link between economic vulnerability and gender-based violence.
Musa announced that Bridge Connect Africa Initiative would support the programme with a N100,000 grant to one winner at the summit, as well as an additional N400,000 to be disbursed as N100,000 each to four TAFTA alumni, particularly those who are survivors of, or at risk of, gender-based violence.
She commended TAFTA for prioritising women in its programme design and called on other partners to support initiatives that promote women-led businesses.
