Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and DHL Express have launched a business skill training mobile app for women entrepreneurs in Kenya.
Dubbed, HerVenture the app will be used as an avenue to help women entrepreneurs in Kenya, to digitise their businesses and position them to thrive in the new digital world during the pandemic.
Kenya will be the second African Country after Nigeria to benefit from the availability of HerVenture following a needs assessment conducted in 2019.
“COVID-19 is drastically changing the way we live and work and pushing us further into a digital world and to survive, many businesses across the world find that they too must move online,” said Cherie Blair CBE QC, Founder, the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.
The app will come with a new e-commerce learning track to support women entrepreneurs with business digitisation through COVID-19 and will aim to reach 10,000 women entrepreneurs in Kenya.
“Investing in women entrepreneurs plays a crucial role in supporting Kenya’s 2030 vision of becoming a middle-income nation by 2030,” said Margret Kobia, Cabinet Secretary for the Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs.
She added that lack of adequate training programmes and information, problems accessing finance and restrictive socio-cultural norms are limiting the success of women’s businesses in Kenya.
The government is working towards improving and empowering women through platforms such as HerVenture and the Women Enterprise Fund to ensure that their needs are met through flexible support to overcome these challenges.
Sub-Saharan African economies lose nearly $100 billion(Sh1billion) a year because of the gender gap in the labour market however, if businesses come together to support women entrepreneurs, this could rebuild economies.
HerVenture will be available to Kenyan women entrepreneurs on Android through the Google Play Store.
It will allow users to find and connect with each other, as well as learn about local business events.
