In a bid to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, Google .org has announced its commitment to support African women entrepreneurs, including a $1m charitable fund to support programmes helping women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
The disclosure was made by the Head, Brand and Reputation, Africa-Google, Mojolaoluwa Aderemi-Makinde, at a virtual event tagged ‘Know Her Name’ to mark International Women’s Day.
She expressed that the funding is part of a series of new initiatives aimed at supporting women-owned businesses.
According to her, research shows that 58 per cent of small and medium-sized business entrepreneurs in Africa are women.
While speaking further, Aderemi-Makinde said that Google has launched some tools with an intensive programme to drive the discovery of women-owned businesses through Google Business Profiles.
These tools include Google Business Profile, which help businesses create a free webpage to make them easier to find online.
Also, Primer, an app-based skills-building platform which allows business owners to access a series of free, custom-designed, bite-sized lessons on the go.
In addition to the $1m grant, Google also dedicated the Hustle Academy cohort to help women business owners to develop their skills.
Other speakers at the event include Google Country Director, Julie Ehimuan, and Senior Vice President, Africa Development Bank, Swazi Tshabalala.
