TILES PROGRAMME

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest labor force participation rate of all regions, estimated at 70.9 percent – compared with a global average of 63.5 percent according to the International Labour Organization survey in 2015. Research also reveals that globally the highest share of women in the workforce is found in African. A large number of the employment of women (non-agricultural) is informal and very few in the private sector compared to men. Self-employment constitutes a greater share of informal employment (non-agriculture) than wage employment. It accounts for as much as 53 percent of non-agricultural employment in sub-Saharan Africa meaning most African women are self-employed.

These figures further confirm the opinion that there is an entrepreneur in every woman especially the African woman. As petty traders, hairstylists, dressmakers, artisans, small scale business and start-ups owners, professionals in corporate, academia, sports wherever, the African woman has some innate entrepreneurial traits for running her business.

The challenge to the management and growth of these small businesses is mostly the lack of the needed capacity and knowledge coupled with contentment and complacency which continue to plunge them in the poverty cycle. Most African women would love to start and grow their businesses but lack the ability and funding to scale –up and compete in this fast-paced world. Few women have been able to break the ceiling but many more women are still crawling.

This underpins the introduction of the “The Intelligent Lady Entrepreneurship Series” (TILES) to equip women with the needed knowledge, skills and funding to start, scale-up and compete well.

GOAL:

The goal of TILES programme’s is to reach out to 100 young women entrepreneurs and social enterprise owners to;

• EQUIP women with the requisite knowledge and skills to start, manage and grow their enterprises to thrive and scale up.
• INSPIRE the African woman to scale up her business unto excellence
• SUPPORT their businesses by funding women businesses and social enterprises