Forty-five women have received training in entrepreneurial skills as part of efforts to economically empower them.

The training was under the auspices of TERREMA, a women's empowerment project aimed at providing beneficiaries with skills which can be turned into viable economic ventures.

It is an initiative of the Rebecca Foundation, a charity project of former First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

Beneficiaries

The 45 women, of whom 20 were trained in baking and 25 in soap making, were drawn from the Methodist Church in Accra, the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, and other individuals.
Upon their successful training, the beneficiaries were all given working tools as startups.

While the bakers received an oven and gas cylinder each, flour and margarine, among others, those who trained in soap making were also given the needed ingredients to ply their trade.

The co-ordinator of the training, Sheela Sakyi Oppong, said Terrema had trained 85 young women in various skills this year with the intention of empowering them to be a means of livelihood and be financially independent.

She encouraged the women to take their trade seriously so that it would be beneficial to them and their dependents, who are mostly children.

A Director at the Rebecca Foundation, Monica Bleebo, called on the beneficiaries to ensure that the training they have received becomes beneficial to them and their families.

She said if they took their trade seriously, it would empower them financially and make them independent.

A former Minister, Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Dakoa Newman, for her part, called on the women to see the training they have received as an avenue to make a difference in their lives.

She said that when women succeeded, it helped them to take better care of their children.

The Proprietress of Robert Aryee Memorial School, where the girls received the training, Grace Mtsiaba, expressed appreciation to the former First Lady for the good work she continues to do for women in the area of skills empowerment.

The Director, Gender, Family and Social Intervention, Methodist Church, Very Rev. Comfort Ruth Quartey Papafio, while thanking the foundation for the initiative, also commended the trainees for their commitment to developing new skills to empower themselves.

The Co-ordinator, Osu Deanery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Accra, Betty Eshun, was grateful to the former First Lady for her support and prayed that what the women had learnt would be beneficial to them.

Two representatives from both sides of the trainees thanked the foundation for the support and pledged that they would use their newly acquired skills to improve their lives.