Accelerate Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) Prize Helps To Empower Women
Edith Wheatland, CEO of Rockland Farms located at Ankamadoa, a deprived community in the Sekyere Central District in the Ashanti Region, won the Accelerated Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) prize for Sub-Saharan Africa for her business initiatives, empowering women entrepreneurs.
The Feed the Future AWE Prize, presented at the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the USA, aims to empower women-owned businesses in Africa to expand, boost job creation and gender equality. It is meant to help women to take their businesses to the next level by providing the winners with acceleration services, including investment readiness consulting, investor matchmaking support, and business analysis.
Wheatland began her working life in the United Kingdom, where she also studied at Peterborough Regional College and obtained certificates in bookkeeping and accounting. Thereafter, she joined an uncle in the United States to run an African Bakery business where they made African bread in Rockland County, New York. She named her African business after Rockland County.
During that time, Edith took interest in starting up her own business and as a result decided to return to Ghana to look for business opportunities.
In the thick bushes of her rural hometown close to Asante Mampong, she contemplated the potentials of a poultry business. With all her savings from abroad, Edith started a poultry farm with 8,000 layers. ‘I knew from my search that the poultry industry comes with lots of risks, particularly for women but I challenged myself to be the difference’ she told the Ghana News Agency during a visit to the farm. Read more