WEConnect International in South Africa held its annual P&G Women Entrepreneurs Academy 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa over a course of three days (30th of August, 2022 to 1st of September).
A cohort of 25 women business owners, who were selected for this unique capacity building program facilitated by the Procter & Gamble Africa team, attended the three-day event.
Procter & Gamble Africa has over the years demonstrated its commitment to Supplier Diversity and Inclusion by facilitating capacity-building modules for women entrepreneurs in the region.
To date, 117 women-owned businesses have successfully completed the Academy in South Africa since 2017.
The curriculum consisted of ten modules expanding in business development topics such as growth strategies, business operations, company branding, sales, communications and leadership skills, human resources and supplier relationship management.
These specialised sessions allowed the women to get a better understanding of the topics covered and encouraged great interactions with the facilitators.
Opening the session on Day One of the Academy, Senior Vice-President & General Manager of P&G sub-Sahara Africa, Vilo Trska, engaged the women business owners on “Aligning and Executing Your
Business Strategy,” followed by Senior Brand Director, Head Of Marketing, Michael Simpson, who led an energetic session on “Brand Building”.
Both sessions allowed the women to get a better understanding of the topics covered and encouraged great interactions with the facilitators.
On Day Two, Director of Purchasing for Sub-Saharan Africa, Otto Meyer, touched on the importance of the procurement processes for potential suppliers to large corporations and how these principles can be applied to SME businesses when using external suppliers. His discussion was followed by Laylah Kara, Senior Purchasing Manager, who spoke on P&G’s sustainability purchasing practices.
P&G sets a new ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040 across its operations and supply chain, from raw material to retailer. Finally, Uche Ajo, Senior Human Resource Manager, led the HR discussion with the women business owners on the importance of hiring the right people in their businesses which ultimately leads to the success of the goals of the business.
Ending the three-day seminar, Customer Sales Director, Natalee Sukhnandan walked the women through the significance of customer experience by facilitating the final module on “Understanding and Reaching Your Customer” which was an amazingly interactive session.
The dynamic and energetic conversations with the facilitators and the women business owners to share learnings with each other were apparent throughout the course of the Academy.
To top off the seminar, the selected women entrepreneurs were encouraged to partake in a “Elevator Pitch” to showcase their businesses. The Elevator Pitches were judged based on two categories: clarity and impression.
Three cash prize winners
The top three Finalists won a cash prize of R15 000.
The top three finalists are as follows:
- Rethabile Moabi from Rom Cleaning Service
- Marie Sebueng from IAMS Powerhouse Consulting
- Rosharon Morgan from GM Boiler and Steam Engineering
Thereafter, the finalists will compete for the ultimate prize of R100 000.
Watch P&G #WEConnect 2022 Women Empowerment and graduation ceremony highlights in the video below !
