Aicha Zeinabou Fofana Epse Blegbo

Aicha Zeinabou Fofana Epse Blegbo has over four years of experience in the gender, civil society and project management sectors, with a specific focus on women entrepreneurs. As the Women in Business Fund’s Coordinator within the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Gender and Social Development Monitoring Division, she provided her support and expertise for the success of this initiative throughout the continent as well as the AfDB’s Commitment to Gender and Engagement with Civil Society. Aicha conducted weekly readiness reviews for gender dimension in order to verify the quality-at-entry for the AfDB’s projects and assisted with all events related to Civil Society. She represented the Bank in 2013 as Resource Person, during a roundtable on ‘Women in Political Governance, Leadership, Public Decision-Making and Entrepreneurship’, organized by the Foundation of the First Lady of Sierra Leone in close collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. Aicha Zeinabou Fofana Epse Blegbo is part of the Projects Management Team of Solid’Act, an educational humanitarian association whose purpose is to improve life conditions for disadvantaged populations with a focus on children and women in Africa. Aicha holds a Master’s Degree in International and European Studies from the Faculty of Economy of Grenoble in France, where she focused on ‘Governance of Organizations for the International Development’. She also graduated from Paris, with a Master of ‘Humanitarian Action, Project Management, and NGOs’ as well as a Bachelor of Law. Aicha’s objective is to strengthen access to finance for women in business, specifically women entrepreneurs and women small-scale farmers in Africa. Upon completion of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, Aicha plans to continue supporting activities that stimulate the market for women-owned businesses.