Gender in Focus: AfDB’s digital ambassadors program training boosts Senegalese entrepreneur business performance.
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Loading... - Khadim Sall
- 05 Apr 2023
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The program, which aims to achieve a 50/50 gender balance, is expanding digital skills to African youth – especially in rural communities – through a peer-to-peer training model
SENEGALESE entrepreneur Fatou Diouf is one of 1,000 youth selected from 21,000 applicants for the African Development Bank’s Digital Ambassadors programme. The program, which aims to achieve a 50/50 gender balance, is expanding digital skills to African youth – especially in rural communities – through a peer-to-peer training model. For this first edition, 45% of the selected candidates were female.
We asked the 32-year-old entrepreneur, who works as a commercial tailor, real estate agent and farmer, about her program training experience and how she plans to use her acquired knowledge and skills.
How did you hear about the program and how did it feel like to be selected?
I was surfing the internet with my phone when I came across the call for applications for the Digital Ambassadors program. Since it was a training for youth, I told myself to try my luck, hoping that I could get valuable skills that I can use in my business. I was pleasantly surprised when I received the e-mail that I was selected as an ambassador among the 21,000 candidates who had applied. I am very happy that I took a chance and got the opportunity!
What motivated you to apply for the program?
I always run towards any opportunity to develop additional skills because I strongly believe that we never stop learning. When I read the call for application, the digital skills part of the program sounded familiar but the freelancing and soft skills were entirely foreign. I saw the training as an opportunity to improve my (information and communications technology) (ICT) knowledge and also learn new skills.
I also wanted to grow as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is a passion and I consider it a personal challenge. I have never liked to work for someone else because I want to be financially independent and be in charge of my own time. Read More…
