In an interview with Balai, Mónica Cardoso explains how the idea of organizing such an event in Cape Verde came about and how the initiative has contributed to strengthening women's empowerment in the country.



"The initiative came about at the end of 2020, when I thought of creating something that was focused solely on women's economic empowerment, since our NGO is divided into three strands and one of them has to do with women's empowerment in the financial sphere," she says of how it all began until the project became an event that had its first edition in March 2021.



"The event became a space for sharing, where we brought together ordinary women and micro-entrepreneurs with seven other speakers who are also women with extensive experience in entrepreneurship, all with the aim of inspiring them to start their own business and take steps to leverage what they already have," she explains.



"At the time, as we were in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were given a space that could only hold a maximum of 70 women, and even then there were disputes over seats, which made us realize that women need a space to speak in order to express their ideas," she adds.



According to the social activist, the first edition of Mulheres que Transformam served as a window to the emergence of new entrepreneurs, which made her rethink the project, together with one of the NGO's promoters, consultant Dúnia Duarte, in order to hold more annual editions.



"Last November we held another edition of the event, which kicked off on the 19th, World Women's Entrepreneurship Day, and was attended by more than 100 women, including entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs," explains Mónica about the second edition, which, according to the promoter, lasted three days and featured different activities, such as open talks, a forum and an entrepreneurship fair, where women from different areas were able to exhibit their work and businesses.



For the mentor, the project, which also has the support of the Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG), has a "transformative role", since "the purpose is to change the mindset of the participants so that they become aware of their ability to create something from scratch and generate an income from it".



As the promoter made clear, although the focus of the project is on women, especially those living in vulnerable situations, this doesn't mean that initiatives of this kind should be seen as a threat to men.



"When we promote projects of this kind, we are empowering women who have lived for a long time in situations that have shaken their self-esteem and made them feel incapable of creating anything. You have to understand that when women get together, it's not to pit themselves against men, but to exchange views and empower themselves," she says.



For this year, Mónica Cardoso shares her intention to expand the event to more locations in the country and expresses her satisfaction at the fact that there are more organizations and private initiatives interested in collaborating with the project in order to promote women's economic empowerment.



This article was originally published on the  Balai Cabo Verde  platform  - Balai .