African Development Foundation

A United States Government Agency

developing stories

Honoring the Things of Beauty in Botswana; Fantsuam Foundation Profiled on CNN International; Ghana Grantee Blekusu Smokes the Competition

 

Beauty Selabe Honored for Career Achievements
ADF and officials of the Government of Botswana recently honored longtime ADF country liaison officer Beauty Babutsi Selabe for 16 years of service to the Foundation’s country program in Botswana. At a November 18 reception in Gaborone, Ms. Selabe received testimonials to her service promoting community-based development in Botswana from Taufila Nyamadzabo, Botswana’s Deputy Secretary of Economic Affairs; Kim Ward, ADF’s regional director for southern Africa; and Hamish Bowie, ADF’s Botswana country representative.

During her tenure as country liaison officer for ADF between 1988 and 2001, ADF funded 25 projects in micro- and small-enterprise development, micro-credit, improved agriculture, and education and training. Over the past three years, Ms. Selabe has served as program director and Board chair of ADF’s Botswana partner organization, Action for Economic Empowerment Trust, where she has invested her knowledge and experience to help create an independent, sustainable, local development organization. Ms. Selabe’s leadership also helped ADF develop a strategic partnership with the Government of Botswana that has allowed ADF to leverage its funds and extend its program outreach to a wider range of Batswana communities.

Ms. Selabe was presented with a plaque and a letter of appreciation signed by Mr. Nyamadzabo and ADF President Nathaniel Fields. The letter read, “It is often said that a thing of beauty is a joy forever, and we have no doubt that your achievements in promoting and supporting sustainable community-led development in Botswana will long endure as testimony to your strength, energy, and commitment to a better future. Mosadi ke Thari ya Sechaba (women carry the nation).”

Fantsuam Foundation Profiled by CNN International
The Fantsuam Foundation, an ADF grantee that specializes in the provision of micro-credit and basic enterprise management training for the rural poor in the Kafanchan area of northern Nigeria’s Kaduna State, will be profiled for its success in promoting rural entrepreneurship on CNN International’s “Global Challenges” program in December. The 30-minute program focuses on innovations in community development in the developing world, and its profile of Fantsuam will air on the evening of Sunday, December 19. The broadcast will be repeated on Sunday evenings for one month.

Fantsuam delivers financial and technical support services to women entrepreneurs and farmers in the Kanfanchan Local Government Area to help them increase their incomes. Membership is open to all women in the eight chieftaincies that surround Kanfanchan.

In 2002, ADF provided Fantsuam with a grant of US $205,000 to expand its credit delivery and business training. The project has provided capital for 4,000 new loans, and it is extending credit and training to 2,000 women who have never engaged in independent entrepreneurial activity.

 

 

ADF Ghana Grantee Smokes the Competition
Members of the Blekusu Women Fish Processing Project were recently honored by officials of Ghana’s Ministry of Agriculture at a November 9 ceremony in Keta, Ghana for producing the best quality of smoked fish in the Volta Region. The award is a clear mark of distinction for the women-owned enterprise. The Volta Region is Ghana’s leading fish producer, and Blekusu captured the prize in its first year of competition.

The Blekusu Women's Co-operative Fishmongers Society Limited (BWCFS) was officially registered with Ghana’s Department of Co-operatives in July 1998. The town of Blekusu is located on the Denu-Keta road near the Ghana-Togo border, and the mainstay of the local economy is fish processing. BWCFS was created to help low-income members improve their standard of living by establishing a well-managed and profitable business focused on the production of smoked and dried fish.

ADF’s grant of US $120,000 has provided Blekusu with working capital to purchase large quantities of fresh fish for processing and to acquire two double-capacity smoking ovens that have helped the cooperative expand its production by 1200 percent. Because smoked fish can be stored for nine months prior to sale, the project is also providing BWCFS with funds to construct a warehouse where a significant percentage of its production can be stored for sale throughout the year. With these enhancements, it is expected that Blekusu will be able to triple its gross revenues and the average income of its members over the course of the five-year project.

 

Coogan Speaks at Yale Forum on "Making Trade Fair"
On December 3, 2004 Tom Coogan of ADF’s Washington, DC office delivered a presentation and took part in a panel at the Yale University School of Management’s Economic Development Forum. The seminar, “Making Trade Fair,” focused on the role that development organizations can play in generating growth opportunities for small-scale enterprises in Africa, Asia and Latin America through enhanced international trade. Mr. Coogan, who is an alumnus of Yale’s MBA program, discussed key business and trade policy issues facing African small businesses. Other participants included Olivier Cattaneo, who serves as a development policy advisor to the French government and the French Development Agency (AFD), and Sam Hartwell, vice president of Aid to Artisans. Before joining ADF in 2000, Mr. Coogan served as director of finance and administration for Ten Thousand Villages and as senior vice president of the Rite Aid Corporation. His personal interest in African development began through his work as a Peace Corps volunteer in The Gambia in the early 1980s.

• Contact Us
• Site Index
• Privacy Statement
• Fair Act
• No Fear Act
• Inspector General Hotline
• Disclaimers