Norwegian startup Ging launches crowdfunding campaign empowering women in rural Africa one powerful and healthy ginger drink at a time.
Ging aims to addresses UN Millennium Development Goals by empowering women in rural Africa through Agriculture
An African born Norwegian entrepreneur has announced the launch of a crowdfunding campaign on mumsmeanbusiness.com, an empowering platform dedicated to helping ambitious mumpreneurs reach their business goals. Antoinette Botti, founder of Ging natural ginger drink, was inspired to set up The Zomadré Women’s Project in her homeland of the Ivory Coast, where up to 90% of produce is grown by women.
Using her African heritage and the springboard of her ever-growing business, Ms Botti aims to empower women in rural Africa through training, investment and nurturing local skills and talent to provide a decent livelihood and access to education for all. If the crowdfunding campaign is successful, the Zomadre Women’s Project will triumph in tackling a number of the United Nations Development Goals such as eradicating poverty and promoting gender equality.
Ging serves the growing number of health conscious and socially aware consumers in Norway and further afield, offering a fresh business model that leverages local know-how, local heritage and locally sourced produce and resources. Containing 100% natural ingredients, the healthy ginger drink has its roots firmly grounded in Africa, where the traditional local recipe was passed on to Ms Botti by her grandmother. Through the Zomadre Women’s Project, the company will achieve its overall vision of using ginger farmed in the Ivory Coast in every single bottle of Ging produced.
Antoinette Botti, creator of the Ging beverage said, “I have been fortunate enough to live in Norway – a country where women experience greater equality and opportunities than anywhere else in the world – for the past 27 years. Now I want to use mybusiness which is deeply rooted in the Ivory Coast to improve the lives of many women in rural Africa who don’t have access to the same level of education and opportunities as I do in Europe. I founded The Zomadré Women’s Project in 2012 as a way to give back to the less fortunate women from my native village, who acted as positive role models and inspired me throughout my childhood.
“In 2011, trade exceeded aid in Africa by $7 billion and I want to help push the continent towards more positive economic growth, as it becomes a key player in global markets. According to the World Bank, women are responsible for growing around 90% of Africa’s food, yet own less than 2% of the world’s property and face obstacles accessing training and resources. With a little help from Mums Mean Business, I hope to raise enough money to invest in this social project and provide the essential tools women need to plant, harvest and crush ginger, and then ship it over to my factory in Norway for use in Ging. It is incredibly important to me to use authentic, African grown ginger in my produce, which I haven’t been able to do yet since starting the business.”
At the core of The Zomadré Women’s Project is three principal values: to invest in agriculture, provide training, knowledge and toolsand foster local talent and skills to create a female-empowered skilled work force for rural Africa. Ging will offer a fair wage to the working women of The Ivory Coast, simultaneously providing educational and employment opportunities and a better livelihood.
The Mums Mean Business website gives female entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their business projects and ideas to a global audience, in the hope of being funded. Funds from individual backers and supporters are only released to the mumpreneur if the funding is reached by a set deadline, meaning time is of the essence for the inspirational African entrepreneur.
Ms Botti added, “Agriculture is one of the only means of employment and supporting a family in Africa. Many of the women I grew up with did not have the chance to finish school, but despite a lack of employment and education opportunities they work hard; these are the inspirational women who made me into the strong woman I am today. I created Ging thanks to my African heritage, along with The Zomadre Women’s Project to allow me to create jobs for the women in the village.”
To find out more about Antoinette’s project and the Mums Mean Business crowdfunding platform, visit http://mumsmeanbusiness.com/projects/ging/.
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Contact: Please direct press queries to Babou Olengha-Aaby. Email: babou@mumsmeanbusiness.com Tel: 47 911 24004
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