Harriet Foundation empowers 101 hairdressers with dryers

More than 100 hairdressers in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal of the Eastern Region were Friday, November 20, 2020, given a big boost with the presentation of hairdryers by the spouse of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate of the area, Samuel Nuertey Ayertey.

Harriet Ayertey, CEO of the Harriet Foundation procured the items from the Rebecca Foundation run by the first lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo for distribution to 101 women at Agomanya as part of efforts to empower them through supporting their individual businesses.

The beneficiaries who were drawn from various parts of the constituency including Kpong, Agomanya, Odumase, Asitey, Korletsom, and other parts, converged at Agomanya for the presentation.

The consignment formed the first batch of items to be presented with the second phase targeted at seamstresses and tailors in the coming days.

Mrs. Ayertey said the presentation was aimed at empowering the women to be self-dependent.

“I am a mother and I think about the women because our father, the President Akufo-Addo has given us the free SHS [and] I also thought, ‘what can I do to help my women in my constituency?” she said.

Adding: “I spoke to my husband and we went to see the first lady, Mama Rebecca Akufo-Addo. She is also a mother and she has sympathy for women [and] because of that, she gave us machines, hairdryers, barbering machines to train the young ones that are coming.”

She is optimistic that her husband’s assumption of the position of Member of Parliament will enable him to draw more opportunities for the constituents.

Offering moral support for his wife, Samuel Nuertey Ayertey said the donation of the equipment aside from efforts to help the women to boost their productivity will also enable them to train young women for the job market.

“My wife and I have decided that the people of Manya Krobo, especially the ladies, most of them lack some of the equipment and we have come out with these dryers for selected 101 hairdressers in the constituency to help them train young ladies in the constituency.”

Mr. Ayertey who has himself already supported more than 100 young women into various apprenticeship programs and graduated others with startup kits and capital as means of empowering them to be self-dependent noted that though the government is rolling out the free senior high school policy, not all young people have been able to access it and he believes skills training remains another avenue to empower them.

“His Excellency the President has brought the free SHS programme but not all of them are benefitting so this is another model which we want to promote to make sure that ladies who could not make it to school will equally have the skills training,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries, Dina Tetteh from Kpongunor expressed her gratitude to the donors and rallied support for the NPP Parliamentary Candidate to ensure victory for more of this support in the future.

“I’m very happy [with the dryers] and come 7th of December, everybody should vote for Teddy. I thank the Harriet Foundation so much for the gesture and I know when her hubby wins, there is more they will do for us,” said the beautician with the fervent hope that the dryer will boost her financial income.

Another, Theresa Acheampong, also from Kpongunor, said the equipment was God sent as it came at a time she badly needed a new dryer to replace her broken-down equipment.

“Today, I received a nice and beautiful dryer from Harriet Foundation and it will help me a lot. As I speak with you, my dryer has broken which has left me thinking of how to acquire a new one, and to my surprise, I was called to come receive a brand new dryer. Is it not a miracle? It is a miracle indeed and I’m so much grateful to the Harriet Foundation and honourable Teddy for this great opportunity that he has brought to us.”