The US embassy has launched a training program for women entrepreneurs in a bid to promote gender parity and improve the contribution of female entrepreneurs to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The training program dubbed Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) will teach women to create their own business plans, help them understand how to raise capital and connect them with other successful business owners.

Speaking to JoyBusiness at the launch of the program, Assistant Secretary of State for the United States of America, Marie Royce said the initiative is to support female entrepreneurs worldwide.

“President Trump and Senior Advisor Trump stated specifically they wanted to introduce this program with the goal of bringing gender parity and more women into the workforce. There are 50 million women we want to reach with this program and we also know that we can get $28 trillion more to the global economy if we bring these women on board”.

According to Madam Royce, realizing how important entrepreneurship is in Africa is the reason they selected Africa and Ghana so as to enable the Entrepreneurs contribute to the GDP’s of the African nations.

The AWE uses DreamBuilder, an online training program on women entrepreneurship developed through a partnership between Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Management and global copper mining company Freeport-McMoRan, which teaches women to create their own business plans, understand how to raise capital and connect with networks of successful business owners.

Project Lead for the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Dr Shola Safo Duodu explained the program is targeted at women between the ages of 25 and 45 already in business or have a business plan and needed help to launch out.

She added, “There will be seed funds for about 5 of our entrepreneurs to help them take off when they are done.”

Application for the program is currently underway and can be through an online application form available on the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs website and social media handles.