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UN launches program for S. African women entrepreneurs

Xinhua, July 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The United Nations on Wednesday launched a mobile-learning platform for women entrepreneurs in South Africa.

The iLearn platform is one of the free basic services on the Internet.org app, said UN Women, a UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The iLearn initiative, launched in Pretoria, provides a platform for women entrepreneurs to tell their stories in their own words, thus enabling them to share their experiences and inspire other women.

The program features women's own stories "behind the business plan"; how they arrived at success and the challenges they faced.

Contributors also share their motivation, personal drive, and the knowledge and skills they acquired to evolve in business.

"We believe that technology can be a game-changer for women and girls, in particular for women entrepreneurs.

"South African women can now access business success stories, business tips and other resources directly from their mobile devices for free when they access UN Women's iLearn platform through the Internet.org app," said Auxilia Ponga, Representative of UN Women South Africa Multi Country Office.

This initiative is one of many initiatives that UN Women is undertaking to advance women's economic empowerment and support women entrepreneurs in South Africa, particularly from a technology perspective.

Recently UN Women and Facebook hosted two "Boost Your Business" workshops for more than 400 women entrepreneurs, where attendees networked and received advice on growing their businesses. They were also invited to join UN Women's Empower Women on-line community.

Earlier this year through UN Women's strategic partnership with Intel Corporation on the Intel "She Will Connect" program, a four- day digital training workshop was held as part of a broader goal to reduce the digital gender gap.

Adopting a train-the-trainer model, 48 women acquired skills and then returned to their communities to share learnings with other women entrepreneurs, UN Women said.

Enhancing women's economic empowerment is one of the five priority areas of UN Women's work and is a particular focus in South Africa where men are more likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activity than women. Endi