YES, WOMEN CAN!

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated around the world on the 8th of March. IWD first emerged at the beginning of the XX century from the activities of labour movements in North America and across Europe. Since those early years, the growing women's movement has assumed a global dimension, being officially recognized by the United Nations in 1975. Today, IWD is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political divisions. IWD  has also became a day to reflect on how far we have come and how far we still have to go to truly achieve gender equality.

The UN Women’s global theme for the current year is “think equal, build smart, innovate for change” and it focuses on innovative ways in which we can advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure. The 2019 theme brings attention to industry leaders, game-changing start-ups, social entrepreneurs, gender equality activists, and women innovators to examine the ways in which innovation can remove barriers and accelerate progress for gender equality, encourage investment in gender-responsive social systems, and build services and infrastructure that meet the needs of women and girls.

Ye! Community joins the celebration by sharing some inspiring stories of young women entrepreneurs that are making an impact through their businesses and as role models in their local communities.

Aditi is a digital marketer, a writer by profession, the founder and CEO of Vocabberry! She has a competitive soul, an innovative head and talks business. When she was 23, she founded Vocabberry and just two years later she was featured as one of the youngest founders of an online business in the Women's League in India by TopYaps.

Her startup, Vocabberry began with a desire to provide content solutions in a far more superior and professional manner than what currently exists. Its primary services include real-time writing, creative writing, copy-editing and proofreading. And not just this, besides taking away content anxiety, Vocabberry is also a suitable platform that gives recognition to writers, editors and proof-readers, all under one roof.

Curious to know more about Aditi? Have a look at her profile: here!

Nguyen is a passionate social entrepreneur, a dreamer and a Ye! Community member. Her biggest dream was to be a role model, inspiring other women in Vietnam to be independent and confident. Today, she successfully runs her own business in tourism, called I Love Vietnam Tour.

I love Vietnam Tour is a motorbike tour which introduces guests to the real Vietnamese life in four most beautiful cities across Vietnam. Guests ride on the back of motorbikes, expertly (and safely) driven by lady drivers.  10% of business’ revenue go directly to various local charity projects. I Love Vietnam has three core goals, to give female university students an opportunity to speak English with foreigners through work, build a reciprocal understanding between cultures and improve the local community.

Learn more about Nguyen and her social business here!

Chandni is a feminist, social entrepreneur and pan-Africanist specialist. In 2014, she founded Kilimanjaro Green Energy Ltd, a social enterprise whose mission is to bring affordable, flexible and quality solar products to the local communities in Kenya and East Africa.

The focus of Chandni’s enterprise is to enable rural communities to become self-sufficient through access to clean power. The enterprise provides customers with assets so they can participate in income generating activities while enabling them to repay micro-finance loans with ease. With a customer base that includes a large number of women and youth, Kilimanjaro Green Energy is making an impact towards developming and improving livelihoods in East Africa.

Discover more on Chandni’s profile!

Kyerewa is a creative entrepreneur. In 2013, she founded April Rust, a women's clothing business based in Accra, Ghana. The aim of her business is to meet the fashion demands of the modern woman, through retailing it's uniquely intricate pieces or by a bridal custom order system. Since she founded April Rust she has started a second venture called The Bold Circle. The Bold Circle is a social enterprise providing a place and platform for dialogue between women entrepreneurs in Ghana to ensure support for their entrepreneurial ideas and to develop the ideas of other budding young female entrepreneurs.

Looking for more information about Kyrewa and her role as Ye! Ambassador? Check out her profile: here!

Keturah is a Nigerian social entrepreneur and a Ye! Community member.  She founded Qeturah, an Ecommerce company fostering sustainable practices amongst consumers to sustain typical cultural items and practices, and to ensure that Nigerians are engaged in promoting a sustainable economy.

Qeturah is a marketplace that makes it easy for any Nigerian brand to sell online and reach a wider market. Qeturah’s mission is to re-imagine commerce across Africa, empowering small business owners to see the world as their market. The company creates and partakes in initiatives to grow local economies in cities across Nigeria. In addition, Keturah encourages her employees to spend time volunteering in their own communities.

Read more about Keturah: here!

Being a woman entrepreneur isn’t always easy. However, these inspiring stories, along with the many others, underscore the that women are succeeding as entrepreneurs and having a positive impact on their communities. The IWD calls attention to the  immense societal impact of women around the world and celebrates these achievements. 

How are you celebrating International Women's Day? Share your story with us about women using the #Ye!forwomen