New partnership supports women entrepreneurs in Africa

Announced during the Africa Union Summit in Ethiopia, the partnership will see the two entities working side-by-side to provide mentoring, training and business tools designed to meet the individual needs of women entrepreneurs on the continent.

One such tool, 'Mara Mentor', has been developed by Mara Online to help young entrepreneurs connect with their industry peers, as well as gain access to valuable business advice, online networking opportunities and training materials. 'Mara Mentor' can be accessed via a website (mentor.mara.com), and a recently launched app which helps users connect, anytime, anywhere.

UN Women's Knowledge Gateway for Women's Economic Empowerment (www.empowerwomen.org), is a global community set up to share resources and tools for women's economic empowerment, crowd-source feedback on innovative ideas and to connect women entrepreneurs and workers with experts, peers, networks and potential partners.

Combining the strengths of the Mara Mentor online platform and app and UN Women's EmpowerWomen.org, as well as its network of over 80 country offices around the world, women entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to better connect with policymakers, researchers, teachers, students, civil society activists, investors, social change-makers; access resources and training for the development of business skills; and develop an understanding of how to overcome specific challenges to gender equality.