Spotlight on Youth - Rahama Abdul-Rahman

Rahama is a young woman familiar to EQWIP HUBs Tamale. She has completed Foundational and Entrepreneurship Training, owns a small catering business that Hub volunteers frequently order from, and she has even started an NGO, Empowering Transforming Communities (ETC), that matches mentors to young girls in secondary school. Rahama is on a clear path to success, but she has faced several challenges in life that have made her into the strong and independent woman she is today.

Growing up in Tamale as a young girl posed some difficult barriers for Rahama. “We are basically house chores persons, that is your focus”, says Rahama, “Most boys really know what they are about, but we girls find it difficult opening up, even in class and amongst our peers.” At a young age, Rahama had a strong passion for journalism. She studied the respective field in school but switched to a focus on finance as she found it difficult choosing what was best for her. “Maybe if I had someone to really sit me down and talk, I would have figured out what my passion was and find a good tertiary institution.”

These troubles early in Rahama’s life are what pushed her to start ETC and to focus on the development of young women. However, another hurdle surfaced, funding ETC while supporting herself and her family as a young mother. Rahama frequently cooked for others, so she decided to increase her network and register as a small catering business, which in turn has contributed greatly to her family and ETC. Yet with all of these commitments, Rahama still had the strength and foresight to improve her skills.

This is when she applied for EQWIP HUBs Training. At the Hub she focused on entrepreneurship, communications skills, and proposal writing, which she was able to apply to her catering and aspirations within ETC. “During the training I really had so much enlightenment on how to build myself, because we had so many trainings and discussions that really helped me. I would go home and reminisce, ‘I can do this’.” Rahama’s hard work at the Hub built her networks and fine tuned her skills. She became more confident in herself, growing past shyness, and feeling comfortable networking and speaking in front of audiences.

As a young girl once at a crossroads in life, facing difficult decisions and several personal challenges, Rahama has persevered and is one of the Hub’s most successful participants. She has grown her capacity to support her family and even developed an NGO that greatly impacts young women. “EQWIP motivated us to not only be entrepreneurs, but to get out and do things to impact our community and ourselves.”