Pankahan Anita Roseline Kini is a Burkinabe entrepreneur expert in coordinating social and environmental projects. Originally an electrical engineer, she holds a master's degree in Business Administration, Water Energy and Environment. Growing up in a rural area without electricity, Anita became interested in electricity problems. She challenged herself to resolve electricity issues in her home community by designing solar lamps from recycled materials. As a result, she was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Women's Initiatives for Development Fair in Ouagadougou. In 2019, Anita became a beneficiary of the South African program Women in Power Africa. Through this she was able to improve certain skills and forge strong links with other women entrepreneurs from several other French-speaking and English-speaking countries. Subsequently Anita founded ILENGA, a social initiative focused on preservation of the environment through the manufacture of building materials and innovative furniture from waste. In 2021, she had the opportunity to benefit from the IVLP program and to be a winner at the Dow Challenge.
The project consisted of training 20 women in the recycling business. The project objectives were to clean the environment, create jobs, reduce the poverty rate, reduce inequalities between men and women, and improve people's lives. The women participating in the training were from Koudougou and Bobo Dioulasso. The women were trained in the following modules: entrepreneurship, waste collection techniques, waste treatment, waste weaving, production of plastic paving stones and other material and marketing and sales techniques.
Pankahan was a participant in the IVLP Project Women and Entrepreneurship, organized by the U.S. Department of State and the American Councils for International Education.
Pankahan's exchange experience led to the development of his IVLP Impact Award Project: "I enjoyed everything about the IVLP program, and I leave with the feeling of having a mission to fulfill for a better world."
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