Sava Shea empowers young women with vocational skills training

Sava Shea Company Limited, a female-owned business in organic skin care products, has supported 20 female adolescent Kayayei (head porters) in Accra with economic empowerment training to enhance their living standards.

The beneficiaries, who received start-up kits at the end of the training, acquired skills in hand sanitiser production, making of lip balm, body butter and body cream using shea butter.

The one-day training aimed at alleviating poverty through empowering young women, who would be equipped with the skills to become potential job makers and help curb the unemployment situation.

The initiative was supported by individuals and institutions such as Dr Clifford Braimah, Mrs Rita Braimah, Mr Prince Gumah (Gumah and Sons Co.Ltd), Mega Flights Services, Carter’s Kaftans, Mr Musah Fuseini, and Madam Kaunza Milla.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, Madam Ruth Wewura Guribie, Founder of Sava Shea Company Limited, reiterated the need to build their capacities, saying, “when women are empowered, the overall well-being of society is improved.”

She said the goal was to train 50 beneficiaries, as such, the training covered 20 beneficiaries for the first phase as the remaining 30 participants would be trained in three weeks.

She said such income generation activities would offer opportunities to the young women and expressed the hope the beneficiaries would make good use of the knowledge acquired.

Madam Guribie told the GNA that the training also aimed to expose the young women to the benefits of shea butter to enable them to add value to it.

Regarding the hand sanitisers, she said the coronavirus still existed and the young women needed to protect themselves due to their engagement with the masses on daily basis and also sell to earn a living.

“We are trying to give them alternatives, most of them lose their lives on the streets, get raped, they get exposed to the ills in society so it is important to get them out of the street by giving them an alternative source of livelihood, which is the skills training we are providing today,” she said.

Madam Barikisu Yusif, a beneficiary, who expressed appreciation on behalf of her colleagues stated that they would make good use of the skills acquired, and demonstrated what she has learnt.

She told the GNA that being self-reliant would help minimize the incidence of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and early parenthood.