June 05, 2024

Discover the inspiring journey of an AYA Ambassador

Burkina Faso

Korotimi ZOANGA SANON is a passionate entrepreneur who dreamed of turning her passion for marketing and processing chicken into a reality in Burkina Faso. Right from the start of her entrepreneurial journey in 2010, she realised that to obtain chicken for daily consumption, one had to spend hours in the local market to purchase them.

This was the main source of her determination, ambition and commitment to simplifying and improving the chicken-buying experience through the establishment of her firm, TIMI Volaille, which has since become TIMI Multi Services. In addition, this enterprise was set up to broaden the availability of ready-to-cook chicken, fish, and seafood.

The start of a rich and challenging business...

As with any start-up, there were challenges. Korotimi faced three main challenges: acquiring the right equipment, developing her entrepreneurial skills and combining her job as an accountant with that of an entrepreneur. Faced with the weight of all these challenges, Korotimi made the crucial choice to give up her profession as an accountant to devote herself entirely to chicken marketing and processing.

For Korotimi, this sacrifice was necessary because:

At work, I received a lot of phone calls for deliveries; there was no delivery man and I had to make the deliveries myself,

she says.

In 2020, at a time when she was building her career as an entrepreneur, marked by many difficulties, she came across the 2SCALE programme. Committed and determined, she quickly made a name for herself by grasping the spirit of the AYA approach and today is an exceptional model AYA ambassador.

The 2SCALE programme: a chance encounter with real impact

Her adventure with the 2SCALE programme began through a friend.

She explains:

My friend wrote to tell me about a training course for AYA women at a local hotel. So, I took part in the training. Following this training, we built a network. That training was the starting point for my adventure with the 2SCALE programme.

The AYA approach is a gender tool par excellence developed by the 2SCALE programme. According to Eva SANOU, Gender Coordinator with the 2SCALE programme, the AYA approach translates as follows:

AYA is an entrepreneurial trajectory that 2SCALE has set up with Bopinc, specifically for women, to facilitate their understanding and mastery of the tools of entrepreneurship to be more successful in business. After realising that women entrepreneurs had less access to commercial opportunities in the value chains supported by 2SCALE, this pathway was an essential bridge for facilitating impact. The AYA trajectory was then followed by the Women Business incubator, an initiative that incubates the businesses of AYA and other female entrepreneurs to take them to the next level in the business world. Timi's determination and resilience enabled her to take part in the 2019 AYA trajectory, followed by the women's business incubator with 2SCALE.

In addition, this approach offers a series of training courses focused on strengthening women's entrepreneurial skills, their inclusion in agricultural value chains, the affirmation of their soft skills and much more. Today, through the AYA approach, 2SCALE has a network of women entrepreneurs who have benefited from AYA modules. These women represent the AYA ambassadors and continue to inspire other women through the originality of their edifying career paths. These networks of women ambassadors are also centres of learning, networking and collaboration on joint and individual projects.

Korotimi ZOANGA SANON says:

It's thanks to AYA that I've got to know quite a few women entrepreneurs with whom I work with. Some of them display their products in my shop, which I then sell. My chickens are also sold in the shops of other AYA women, such as Natural Food in Tampouy.

For her, the positive impact of the AYA network extends beyond Burkina Faso. She tells us:

Once in Benin, at an event, I met one of our AYA trainers, a European woman. I introduced myself to her as an AYA woman. That made my stay a lot easier.

Winner of the Africa Mousso prize, a success that combines with the contribution of the 2SCALE programme

Africa Mousso, a pan-African awards ceremony for women leaders, aims to celebrate and promote women who are working for the development of Burkina Faso.

The 7th edition of Africa Mousso, held in Ouagadougou last October under the theme “Women's contribution to peace and social cohesion”, rewarded the efforts of 14 valiant women. Korotimi ZOANGA SANON was crowned Sanem Poaka 2023 (Golden Woman) for the contribution of her company Timi multi services to the development of Burkina Faso.

The award also recognised the achievements of the AYA approach and her participation in the Women Business Incubator, a pilot project accelerating women's entrepreneurial initiatives in Burkina Faso.

Korotimi narrates:

With regard to the Africa Mousso prize, a prize awarded to women entrepreneurs, I would say that the basis of my entrepreneurial skills came from the AYA training courses. These were my very first entrepreneurial courses, which I took free of charge. What's more, these courses enabled me to get to know other women entrepreneurs, whose contributions and interactions were important to my success in the Africa Mousso Sanem Poaka 2023 prize.

As for her participation in the Women Business Incubator, she notes:

It was thanks to this project that I agreed to take part in Africa Mousso, in particular because it helped me with public speaking and self-confidence.

Our AYA ambassador, Korotimi ZOANGA SANON, has no intention of stopping there. Through this visibility offered by the Africa Mousso platform, she intends to promote female leadership and entrepreneurship, while remaining an inspiring role model for other women. Eventually, she hopes to have her own sophisticated processing unit to act as a model plant and training ground for other people.

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