Following a successful joint entrepreneurship camp last year, U.S. Embassies in Lome and Cotonou teamed up to bring together 40 Beninese and 60 Togolese female entrepreneurs in Lomé for a week-long training program known as the Binational Economic Independence Course for Women (BEICW).
Embassy Lome hosted the program which consisted of presentations from successful entrepreneurs and subject matter experts, leadership training, practical exercises, and product development. On the final day of the camp Embassy Lomé hosted a fair in which the participants displayed and sold their products to the general public. During the camp’s closing ceremony with Benin’s former Minister of Justice and Micro-finance and Mission Lomé’s Chargé d’Affaires, the participants were encouraged to practice what they learned during the week in order to strengthen their businesses.
Each of the women received ARS Nouveaux Horizons books on building small businesses and leadership to continue their professional development after the camp.
