The Lady Initiative

About The Lady Initiative

The Lady Initiative (“The Lady”) (operating under the name Aladyis Foundation, registered as a Ghanaian not for profit), was launched in January 2015 and runs holistic leadership training sessions for young women in partnership with Villa Monticello, a luxury hotel in Accra, Ghana. The mission of The Lady is to create a safe place for young women to develop practical life skills, share aspirations and address challenges with confidence, so that they can become the best versions of themselves.

In executing this vision, The Lady Initiative has had the privilege of training 250 future global leaders who will excel across numerous professional sectors and as the next generation of African women entrepreneurs.

The Lady Initiative

The International Women’s Forum (Ghana) has adopted the Lady Initiative with a focus on providing leadership training and mentoring to tomorrow’s leaders. We are committed to training, mentoring and women to achieve their full potential. IWF Ghana provides financial sponsorship annually to a deserving future leader.

Why youth?

Ghana’s youth population is 57% of the total population. This story is replicated across Africa – the youth dividend is our greatest advantage.

The core focus group of the Lady Initiative is young women aged 15 to 25 years. This target range (young women aged 15 to 25) makes up approximately 10% of the population of Ghana. Young women in the rural areas are particularly vulnerable to early pregnancy and are not afforded the same opportunities to education as those in the cities. Young women in the cities are given ample opportunity to build up effective careers and are typically very successful in the educational systems. In general, Ghana has a relatively high literacy rate for women (71%) but this does not necessarily translate into jobs and businesses as other constraints tend to limit the full potential of women in Ghana.

Entrepreneurship in Ghana is important as we have a graduate population of 100,000 each year for a job market that can only absorb approximately 5000 new positions. We are focused on helping young women to understand key tenants of business and encourage them to build enterprises as well as to impact their communities.

The Lady Initiative is the implementation partner of the Pearl Safe Haven (thepearlsafehaven.org), a sister organisation focused on advocacy for survivors of gender-based violence with a core mandate of building a safe refuge in Ghana.