United States women in business will this month mentor three Rwandan women entrepreneurs through a business training programme dubbed; ‘Peace Through Business.’ Cary’s mentors include: Leah Brown, Monica Smiley and Sheila Ogle. They will be volunteering their personal and professional time starting Wednesday to mentor three Rwandan students for five days – at home and at the workplace. Rwandan woman entrepreneur, Sarah Mukandutiye is among those to be mentored. She runs a dairy and fruit farmer in Kigali. Another beneficiary is 37-year-old Annette Karenzi of ABK International-African Heritage. She hopes to expand her hospitality firm to Rwanda’s and Africa’s growing tourism market. “Eventually I want to expand African Heritage so that it can encompass some of our country’s and Africa’s tourism market,” Karenzi said. “I want it to become a ‘one stop tourism spot’ for guests to visit. This way, I can promote our country and continent in a positive way.” The programme is coordinated by the Oklahoma-based non-profit Institute for Economic Empowerment for Women and its Peace Through Business programme. Peace Through Business has three components namely including leadership development, an international women’s economic summit and mentorship. Terry Neese, the programme founder said in a press statement that the programme aims to empower females in countries where they are undeveloped economically, socially and politically. Since the programme was created in 2006, over 100 women have been directly educated and trained. They include 16 Rwandan students. Upon completing the programme, the students are committed to communicate with their mentors for at least a year. Ends
