AWARD WINNER TO OPEN TRAINING INSTITUTE

MRS Augustina Hammond, the Ghanaian who was presented with awards with two other women at the inaugural Women’s Awards ceremony by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and EMPRETEC, has announced her intention to open a training institute for designing and garment manufacturing by September this year.
The award winner, who is the founder of JEM Afric Garments, manufacturers in indigenous African designs to niche markets in the US and Caribbean, among others, won the third prize that came with a cash of $1,500 for a study tour.
Speaking to journalists at a press conference organised by EMPRETEC Ghana Foundation, on the sidelines of the just-ended UNCTAD conference, Mrs Hammond said her intention to set up the training institute was to provide the missing link between education and industry.
She said the institute would provide practical training during the day for the youth, as well as students of fashion and all others who needed the practical skills in designing and manufacturing.
Evening classes would also be scheduled for women, including professional, business and unemployed women, to build their capacity in that area.
EMPRETEC, a Spanish acronym for business and entrepreneurship, is an UNCTAD programme that targets particularly women in small and medium-scale enterprises to build up their entrepreneurial skills and capacities.
EMPRETEC Ghana Foundation is one of the vibrant among 27 worldwide with the most active EMPRETEC centres in Brazil and Uganda, according to Ms Foirina Mugione, Chief, Enterprise Policies and Capacity-Building Section of UNCTAD, who was also at the press conference.
She said the award would be organised annually but the intention was to let other groups within EMPRETEC benefit and explained that for instance, the youth was a target group to be awarded the next time.
Two Ghanaians, Mrs Hammond and Ms Paully Appea-Kubi of Ebenut Ghana Limited, were among the 10 finalists shortlisted for the awards that was held on Monday April, 21, during the conference.
Ebenut Ghana Limited produces and packages dried fruits, nuts and vegetables, shipping 10 tonnes every five weeks to the United Kingdom, United States, and Senegal and equally serve the domestic market.
The Chief Executive Officer of EMPRETEC Ghana, Nana Tweneboa-Boateng, said the two Ghanaian finalists of the awards attested to what the Foundation was doing in the country and indicated that the commitment of EMPRETEC Ghana, to train and nurture through appropriate interventions and entrepreneurial skills, would be adhered in the present and the future.
Nana Tweneboa-Boateng said apart from the training programmes, EMPRETEC Ghana supported entrepreneurs with financial services.

DAILY GRAPHIC, TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2008, PG 11