GOAL ACCELERATOR PROGRAM — A springboard towards women’s autonomy

Train, support and open new perspectives for women. This is the ambition of the Goal Accelerator Program for Women (GAP), launched Thursday at the Caudan Arts Center in Port-Louis, by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, in partnership with Junior Achievement Mascareignes (JAM). Aimed at women aged 18 to 35, this initiative aims to strengthen their employability and entrepreneurial spirit through support focused on skills development, financial education and business creation, in order to promote their economic autonomy.

Faced with the economic and social challenges that some women face, the government intends to improve existing systems to enable them to acquire new skills and better prepare for their professional future. It is with this in mind that the GAP was designed, presented as a transformation journey going beyond simple training. This initiative stems from a partnership between the ministry and JAM, formalized by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), aimed at formalizing their collaboration in favor of the economic empowerment of women.

The program will welcome two cohorts of 25 participants. The training will be provided at the National Women Development Center in Phoenix and at the Mahébourg Creativity Center. Spread over two months, the training will combine practical workshops, mentoring and personalized support. Participants will benefit from modules devoted to employability, business creation, financial education, leadership, digital skills as well as artificial intelligence. At the end of the course, they will be granted start-up capital to support their entrepreneurial projects or their professional integration efforts. The first cohort will begin their training on the 21st.

“This program aims for a true inner transformation: to give women the conviction that they can be actors of their destiny,” declared Arianne Navarre-Marie, who makes it clear that this program constitutes much more than training: it represents a lever of empowerment intended to give participants the ways to gain confidence, develop their skills and build their economic independence.

Through the GAP, she claims to promote “the tools, opportunities and confidence necessary to enable women to fully realize their potential. “The challenge is not limited to the acquisition of new knowledge, but consists of enabling women to develop their abilities and build their professional and entrepreneurial careers.”

Arianne Navarre-Marie emphasized that many women already have significant entrepreneurial potential, but that they need