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Mrs. Byaruhanga's
school now has 1,500 students, some of whom are
boarders. The integration of nursery, primary and
secondary classes is one of the school’s strengths.
She has plans to expand the school to include a
university.
She
received the award of $6,000 study tour offered
by the First Lady of the Dominican Republic. The
First Lady Margarita Cedeño de Fernández,
congratulated the winners and said they "have
set an example for women throughout the world."
Accepting
the prize, Mrs. Byaruhanga said that she was "grateful,
humbled, and also proud to be a woman from a war-ravaged
area, struggling to make a difference in the lives
of war-ravaged children".
Coming
second was María de la Luz Osses Klein of
Chile, an entrepreneur who established a company
which makes biotechnology products for the mining
industry. She received the prize of US$3,000 of
a study tour to New York offered by the Spain-US
Chamber of Commerce.
Mrs.
Joy Simakane of Botswana won the third-place award.
Her company, Extramile Express PTY Ltd, provides
customs-clearing and messenger-delivery services.
The prize, consulting services of a value of $US
1,500 was offered by the Africa Technology Development
Forum of South Africa and by the International Federation
of the Red Cross.
The
first Empretec Women in Business Awards were presented
in April 2008, in Accra, Ghana.
"Empretec"
is a flagship technical assistance programme of
UNCTAD. The word Empretec comes from Enterprise
and Technology. It was started in 1988 and aims
at imparting key entrepreneurial competences for
creation of world-class entrepreneurs. SMEs make
up the majority of businesses in industrialized
countries, provide the majority of jobs, contribute
extensively to manufacturing and exports, and traditionally
are breeding grounds for new ideas and products.
However, according to the World Bank enterprise
surveys, they account for only 40% of employment
and 25% of GDP in developing countries.
UNCTAD
is part of the United Nations. Established in 1964,
UNCTAD promotes the development-friendly integration
of developing countries into the world economy.
It is the focal point within the UN for the integrated
treatment of trade and development and the related
issues of finance, investment, enterprise development,
technology and sustainable development. |
