ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Global Female Entrepreneurship Empowerment Program Workshop (GFEEP) kicked off on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the aim to equip Ethiopian women entrepreneurs with essential knowledge and skills to manage their businesses.
The two-week workshop, the first of its kind in Ethiopia, has brought together 66 businesswomen who run private companies in various fields.
Speaking at the launching event, Liu Xiaoguang, minister counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said the training program is part of the consensus reached between China and Africa and their commitment to advancing women's development and addressing gender inequality.
"It provides Ethiopian women entrepreneurs with a structured learning platform, helping them strengthen business thinking, enhance innovation capacity, and improve cross-cultural communication skills through high-quality training and experience sharing," Liu said.
He said that the workshop also creates a bridge for mutual learning between Chinese and Ethiopian women entrepreneurs, promoting deeper understanding and broader cooperation and injecting new vitality into practical China-Ethiopia cooperation.
The GFEEP is a capacity-building initiative led by Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) that targets female entrepreneurs from developing countries. The workshop in Ethiopia is organized by the BFSU in collaboration with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) Ethiopia.
"Women should participate in and benefit from the global modernization. We should focus on addressing the issues of inequality and inadequacy in women's development, enabling them to share the fruits of economic globalization," Jia Wenjian, president of the BFSU, said in a video message sent to the launching ceremony.
Emphasizing the significance of the training workshop to empower Ethiopian women entrepreneurs, Li Qingyong, chief executive officer of CCECC Ethiopia, said he hopes the trainers would help equip the participants with essential skills to drive their businesses sustainably.
"To all participants, you are here because you are leaders, innovators, and change makers in your field. We encourage you to actively engage in the sessions, share your experience, and absorb the knowledge to be offered," Li said.
Representing the trainees, Nardos Moges, who runs a consultancy business in Ethiopia, said an investment on women means an investment on children's health, education, and nutrition, thereby reducing poverty and improving long-term human capital.
"We would like to extend our sincere appreciation for supporting this meaningful initiative as we are contributing to a journey that empowers brave women who are striving to change their lives, their families, and their communities," Moges said.
According to the organizers, the program aims to enhance women's business leadership, innovation awareness, and enterprise management capabilities through systematic knowledge sharing, critical thinking training, and resource linkage, thereby promoting women's economic empowerment and sustainable development. ■
