Article by Allie Dalola, intern with the U.S. Department of State, currently studying Business Administration and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill.

Salema (pictured in her bee suit) is passionate about beekeeping and her community. She has been keeping bees for over 10 years.

[Dar Es Salaam, November 2022] For more than 10 years, Lightness Salema has been turning her passion for beekeeping into a way to alleviate poverty in Tanzania. That’s what her business,  Dream Developers, is all about.

In 2011, while working in her former job as an engineer, Salema identified a critical opportunity to utilize her hobby of beekeeping to increase crop yields and help feed the people of her country. According to research published by Statista in 2022, about 1 in 10 Tanzanians face food instability. Salema wanted to help.

“Without bees, there’s no pollination for vegetables or fruits,” she explains. “There's no food.” She started out with only a few hives and a dream, and then began selling the honey she produced. And just like that, her business was born.

“I started my company Dream Developers with a vision of developing various dreams into realization, including my own,” Salema explains. “And my dream was to do beekeeping.”
Beekeeping is critical to the future of Tanzanian agriculture. Salema is pictured here with several other Tanzanian beekeepers.

This dream was taken to the next level in 2019 when Salema joined the U.S. Department of State’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), which uses the DreamBuilder online learning platform developed by Arizona State University. This free, publicly accessible platform taught her core business skills like strategic planning, accounting and marketing.
Salema had the opportunity to share her product with U.S. Ambassador Donald Wright at the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair in July 2022.

On top of that, Salema became part of AWE’s expansive network of local business leaders, mentors and U.S. government exchange alumni, who taught and inspired her with their own business experience in Tanzania.

Salema says that her AWE experience “transformed” her. It boosted her ability to sell honey by helping her create a recognizable brand. A grant from the U.S. African Development Foundation, who partners with AWE to provide seed funding to alumnae, also helped her to develop packaging that is appealing and stands out to buyers.
AWE helped Salema develop eye-catching packaging and a colorful logo for her honey.

“When people see my honey, they say it’s nice before even tasting it,” she explains. “It sells itself!”

After graduating from the AWE program, Salema has been busy as a bee - using her business to help others in the community. She identified an opportunity for Dream Developers to empower other women from rural mining communities with the skills and resources they needed to earn an additional source of income.

“I train them and give them a few hives,” Salema explains. “That way, they can start beekeeping as an alternative source of income for their families.”

So far, she has trained women from three rural regions throughout Tanzania in the art of apiculture. In the coming years, these women will have the opportunity to sell the honey they produce to Dream Developers in exchange for a steady income. In the next few years, Salema hopes to empower 1000 Tanzanian women to become beekeepers and find their own sweet success.

“When you’re keeping bees, it’s like you’re keeping the life of people,” she explains. “And, we get the product of honey out of a good deed!”
U.S. Ambassador Donald Wright congratulates members of the 2022 AWE graduating class in Tanzania, where nearly 150 women have participated in AWE.

Salema will be presenting her business in the annual Woman Impact Summit, a global virtual summit celebrating women entrepreneurs all over the world from Nov 7-11, 2022. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to network with other women entrepreneurs and share about how AWE empowered her to make an impact in Tanzania.

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs was launched in 2019 by the U.S. Department of State, in partnership with the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. Since then, AWE has empowered an estimated 25,000 women in 100 countries with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses. AWE has operated in Tanzania since 2019, empowering nearly 150 women entrepreneurs like Salema.

For more information about AWE, visit: https://eca.state.gov/awe.

From October 1 to October 15, 2022, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Sports Diplomacy Division hosted fourteen basketball officials and administrators from Mexico in New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Atlanta for a Sports Visitor Program focused professional development and women’s empowerment.   

The female officials were chosen from a group of 70+ female referees who participated in a U.S. Embassy Mexico City funded virtual referee training course held in conjunction with the Mexican Professional Men’s Basketball League (LNBP).  The LNBP designed the course to pave the way for more women to become professional basketball referees in Mexico.    

While in New Jersey, the delegation participated in an NBA-led two-day workshop that included sessions on technical officiating skills, communication, and conflict resolution.  The NBA also allowed the group to join a pre-game referee meeting (which included one of the leagues six female referees) before an official pre-season game between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.  Finally, the NBA hosted the delegation at the Reply Center to observe how the game is monitored and called behind the scenes.  

Rounding out their time in New Jersey, the delegation put their skills into practice through officiating a tournament in conjunction with the New York-based organization Ladies Who Hoop, which works to build community and empowerment for women through basketball.  Before heading to Philadelphia, the delegation stopped at the Basketball Hall of Fame to learn more about the history of the game.    

In Philadelphia and Atlanta, the group continued building their officiating skills through workshops with Court Club Elite (lead by former NBA referee Ed Rush) and strengthening their mental and emotional game with Dr. Kensa Gunter and Train the Mind, among other organizations and U.S. counterparts.   

Funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by FHI 360, the Sports Visitor Program brings non-elite youth athletes, coaches, and administrators to the United States for a fast-paced short-term sports cultural exchange with American peers and sports practitioners.  

To learn more about U.S. Department of State sports diplomacy, follow on Facebook (@SportsDiplomacyDivision) and Twitter (@SportsDiplomacy). 

 

By Robin Holzhauer and Amelia Shaw

[Southern Africa, October 2022] Women entrepreneurs in three African nations got a boost for their businesses through a seminar with a top marketing executive from the social media platform WhatsApp, hosted by the U.S. government. 

WhatsApp marketing executive Ben Supple led a seminar for more than 100 women entrepreneurs across Africa in an AWE Connected event hosted by the U.S. government.

More than 100 alumnae from the U.S.-led initiative Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) tuned in from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Zambia to hear WhatsApp’s Global Head of Civic Engagement Ben Supple, who talked about how businesses can expand their customer base using WhatsApp - currently one of the most popular social media platforms in Africa.

Supple’s role at the social media giant is to build strategic partnerships with governments, NGOs and publishers and fact checkers who seek to use WhatsApp's business products to engage with citizens across WhatsApp's 2.2 billion users. 

According to the market research company Statista, WhatsApp has more than 40 million users in Africa, and projects this number to rise to more than 66 million by 2025 –  in part because the platform offers a cheap, easy way for people to connect on the continent, says Business Insider Africa.  In most African countries, calling and texting through WhatsApp is much cheaper than using the local phone service. 

The seminar was part of the AWE Connected speaker series, a U.S. government initiative which brings together AWE alumnae across the globe and connects them with dynamic U.S. experts in business and technology to spur growth among women-led businesses.  In this case, the goal was to help African women entrepreneurs adopt digital tools and technology so they can more easily expand their businesses and connect with new customers. 

Ben Supple of WhatsApp, (upper left corner) and some of the participants at the AWE Connected Digital Marketing seminar.

Entrepreneurs peppered Supple with questions on a range of topics, from countering misinformation, to remaining authentic and credible, to staying safe as a woman entrepreneur in the digital world.  They also asked how WhatsApp charts customer feedback and sought advice on protecting accounts from hackers and ne’er-do-wells.  

The session was full of discussion on business do’s and don’ts.  For example, one woman entrepreneur in Zimbabwe shared how after she allowed one of her followers to have administrator access to her WhatsApp group, the follower hijacked the network she had built and kicked her out of the group.

Example of Tanzanian Catherine Shembilu’s smart marketing of her company Vikapu Bomba – giving a carefree, beachy feeling.

Several women also shared their stories of success. Tanzania’s Catherine Shembilu, founder of Vikapu Bomba, discussed how using a combination of Instagram, WhatsApp, and other media platforms helps her to better reach her local audience, and also expand her business into global markets.  Shembilu exports her baskets and other woven goods to the United States and Europe through online artisan bazaars like The Little Market.

Bwalya Phakati, the Zambian entrepreneur behind Towani Beauty Creams, explained how digital marketing allowed her to steadily grow her beauty and personal care brand, which supports job creation in sub-sectors such as retail and distribution.

AWE Alumna Bwalya Phakathi of Zambia uses in-person and digital marketing to successfully promote her business, creating jobs in the retail sector.

The AWE Connected session not only honed the women’s professional skills, it also reinforced the “sisterhood” many alumnae feel with other AWE graduates in their countries and around the world. 

 “One of the most important things I gained through AWE is the network,” says Maphala Phiri, director and founder of Real Hair by Lorraine in Zimbabwe.  She said she was inspired to hear from such a high-ranking WhatsApp executive - and get in touch with more women entrepreneurs like her.  

“I have met so many inspiring women. We have managed to create a sisterhood, a network of like-minded women,” Phiri said.  “If I need advice, I can simply tap into our network. In turn, I also share my experiences with other women and inspire them to own businesses.”

AWE Alumna Lorraine Maphala Phiri runs a hair salon in Zimbabwe and says she felt inspired by WhatsApp - and the AWE network.

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs is a global economic empowerment program established in 2019 by the U.S. Department of State.  It provides women entrepreneurs with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses using the online program, DreamBuilder, developed by Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation.  Operating in 100 countries around the world, AWE has empowered 7,000 women entrepreneurs in more than 20 African nations. 

The Office of the U.S. Speaker Program recruits dynamic American experts to engage international audiences on topics of strategic importance to the United States.  Programs are conducted in person and through virtual engagement platforms.  Key policy priorities include security such as countering disinformation and cybersecurity; defeating ISIS and extremist groups; economic prosperity; educational diplomacy; energy security; and open government and civil society.  The office conducts approximately 650 speaker programs per year.

“Entrepreneurs... are truly engines of growth in both of our countries.”  Secretary Antony Blinken at a Conversation with YLAI Alumni.

On October 5, in Santiago, Chile, Secretary Antony J. Blinken met with four ExchangeAlumni of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellowship Program to learn how their innovations spur economic growth and positive change in Chile.  The meeting took place at Confiteria Torres, a restaurant owned by a 1988 International Visitor Leadership Program ExchangeAlumni.

Secretary Blinken met with the following YLAI ExchangeAlumni:

  • Camila Roa, 2017 YLAI Fellow, co-founder of “Desde Fuera del Centro” (“From Outside of the Center”), an artistic and leadership development project that teaches through contemporary music in small and rural communities in Chile. 
  • Paulina Salazar, 2017 YLAI Fellow,CEO of LabNettings, a scientific collaboration network and the Vice President of ACECyT, which promotes scientific innovation and advises entrepreneurs. 
  • Sebastián Oyarzo, 2022 YLAI Fellow, founder of Willi Kitral, a company that produces and markets indigenous Mapuche food products including sauces and jams. 
  • Sebastián Herceg, 2016 YLAI Fellow, co-founder of Kyklos, a civil society organization that works with students, teachers, parents, and administrators to develop social consciousness around recycling. 

The YLAI Fellowship Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX.  For press inquiries, please contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at ECA-Press@state.gov.  For more information on joining the free YLAI network or how to apply for the upcoming YLAI fellowship program, please visit https://ylai.state.gov/.

 

October 6, 2022

In recognition of the importance of increasing access and opportunity for outstanding and diverse U.S. students to engage with the world, the State Department announced today the list of U.S. higher education institutions that sent the most American students overseas in 2020 - 2021 with support from its Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program. The State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with the Institute of International Education, compiles the list, organized by small, medium, and large four-year institutions, and colleges conferring associate degrees.

Topping this year’s list of four-year institutions sending the highest number of Gilman Scholars abroad are Mercer University (GA), Wright State University (OH), and the University of California, Berkley (CA). Skyline College (CA) tops the list of associate colleges.

During the academic year 2020-2021, nearly 300 Gilman participating institutions sent nearly 800 Gilman recipients to 48 U.S. states, D.C, and Puerto Rico to study or intern abroad, including virtually, in 77 locations around the world. The Department recognizes the magnitude of this achievement during a historically difficult year for student mobility caused by the pandemic.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, with the support of the U.S. Congress, is reshaping study abroad to make it more accessible and inclusive for American students. The Gilman Program broadens the U.S. student population studying and interning abroad by providing scholarships to outstanding undergraduate students who, due to financial constraints, might not otherwise participate.

For a full list of higher education institutions, please visit the Gilman Scholarship website at GilmanScholarship.org.

For nearly 25 years, since taking emergency action to protect Cambodia’s cultural property from looting in 1999, the United States has worked with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to protect and return their cultural property.  Through this cooperation, the United States has returned over 100 objects to Cambodia since 2003, and this year returned additional looted and stolen cultural objects to Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

From September 4-8, 2022, ECA’s Cultural Heritage Center (CHC) participated in an international conference hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the U.S.-based NGO Antiquities Coalition: “The Prevention of the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property—An ASEAN Perspective.”  The conference took place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and gathered 200 high-level participants—including ASEAN member country officials and representatives from international organizations and NGOs—to discuss trends and best practices in protecting cultural property.

Speaking at the conference’s International Plenary Session, CHC Director Eric Catalfamo stressed the urgent need for international cooperation to protect heritage under threat from political and economic crises and climate change:  “This work takes on even greater urgency during times of crisis, like those we face today, with the economic disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic prompting increased trafficking of cultural property and cultural heritage under threat by political upheaval in places like Afghanistan and directly targeted in Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.”

Catalfamo detailed the benefits of entering into bilateral cultural property agreements with the United States, which enable the establishment of U.S. import restrictions to prevent looted objects from entering the United States.  Cultural property agreements prevent criminals from profiting from the sale of trafficked cultural property, facilitate the return of looted and stolen cultural property objects from the United States to their countries of origin, and provide frameworks for enhanced international collaboration.

In his opening remarks, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn highlighted the U.S.-Cambodia Cultural Property Agreement’s role in bringing historical treasures back to Cambodia, including the Skanda on a Peacock—a 10th century sandstone statue of the Hindu war deity Skanda considered a masterpiece and a valuable part of Cambodian cultural heritage.  Minister Sokhonn said, “We would like to thank our international partners, especially the United States, for helping to get back these stolen antiquities, stop the smuggling, and return the cultural treasures to Cambodia.”

 

About U.S. Bilateral Cultural Property Agreements

The United States utilizes cultural property agreements with 25 countries to promote a clean U.S. art market and to assist other countries in protecting their cultural heritage.  Agreements create import restrictions that stop stolen cultural property from entering the United States while encouraging the legal sharing of cultural property for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes so that the U.S. public, museums, and researchers have expanded opportunities to appreciate partner countries’ history and culture.

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded on October 5 to Austrian Fulbright alumnus Anton Zeilinger and two other scientists “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.” Dr. Zeilinger received a Fulbright award in 1976 to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He returned to Austria to complete his studies at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and went on to teach at MIT and TU Wien before becoming president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The Nobel committee honored Dr. Zeilinger for his work in quantum mechanics, which has broad implications in areas like cryptography and quantum computing. Dr. Zeilinger is the 62nd Fulbright alum to receive a Nobel Prize. The full list of alumni who have received Nobels is at https://fulbright75.org/nobels/.

 

Launched in 2006 as part of a multi-agency U.S. Government initiative, the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), increases the number of young Americans with the language skills necessary to advance international dialogue, promote economic prosperity and innovation worldwide, and contribute to national security by building understanding across cultures. The NSLI-Y program provides participants a formative experience with lifelong impact, which results in substantial language proficiency gains and increased cross-cultural competency.

This summer, over 400 American high school students traveled overseas through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program to study Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Persian, Russian, and Turkish, build connections with host families and peers, and represent the diversity of the United States as citizen ambassadors. An additional 130 summer students studied Russian and Chinese online.

This dynamic summer cohort – with in-person and online programming taking place around the globe on four continents – was a significant milestone for NSLI-Y.  The summer cohort featured the largest group to complete in-person programs in recent years, representing a return to the immersive experience that is a hallmark of the program.

For six-seven weeks this summer, NSLI-Y students in overseas programs attended intensive language classes and participated in cultural activities designed to deepen understanding of the history and culture of their host community—from building a yurt in Kyrgyzstan to picking tea leaves in Taiwan. NSLI-Y Indonesian participants worked with the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta to create a skit showing off their Indonesian language abilities. Posted on the Embassy Instagram page, the video of the students’ performance already has over 29,000 views!

Building on the successes of summer programs, all 2022 NSLI-Y academic year programs started in-person overseas this fall— another milestone since the beginning of the pandemic.

Applications for the NSLI-Y 2023-2024 are being accepted through November 3, 2022.  More information is available at www.nsliforyouth.org.

We are pleased to announce that the application for the U.S. Department of State’s 2023 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is now open! We welcome American undergraduate and graduate students to apply now to study a critical language next summer on a fully-funded virtual or overseas language program.

The CLS Program is an intensive overseas language and cultural immersion program for American undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. Students spend eight to ten weeks over the summer studying one of 14 critical languages (Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu). The program is designed to promote rapid language gains through intensive language instruction, host community engagement, and structured cultural activities in a cohort-based setting.

Under the CLS Program, CLS Spark provides virtual opportunities for American undergraduate students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities to study Arabic, Chinese, and Russian at the beginner level over the summer. Designed to leverage best practices in online language learning, CLS Spark provides participants the opportunity to study critical languages virtually at the absolute beginner level when they may not have access to these languages on their campuses.

The CLS Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State, and part of a wider government initiative to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages that are critical to national security and economic prosperity. The CLS Program plays an important role in preparing students for the 21st century's globalized workforce and increasing national competitiveness.

The application is now live and available online at: https://www.clscholarship.org/apply.

Applications are due Tuesday, November 15, 2022, by 8:00pm EST

Article by Amelia Shaw and Emily Zhu, an intern with the U.S. Department of State, currently studying Psychology and Political Science at the University of Michigan.
Tom Tom’s owner Shanice Prince with a food blogger Mark Wiens of Migrationology who visited her business in Tobago to learn how sesame “benne” balls are made.

[Tobago, September 2022] Shanice Prince, a 2022 alumna of Trinidad and Tobago’s first cohort of Academy of Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), founded Tom Tom’s Local Confectioner in 2016 with a recipe for chocolate fudge, shared with her by a family friend.

Prince got the idea to start a business from one of her sons, known by his nickname ‘Tom Tom.’

“Whenever I would make my chocolate fudge or coconut fudge and deliver it to local grocery stores,” says Prince, “my son Tom Tom was there.  He always wanted a taste.  One day he said, ‘Mommy, you should sell this and become a millionaire.’”

So Prince started a fudge business in his name, saying it is a way to leave a legacy for her children later.  “When your business is part of your children’s inheritance, you know you cannot fail,” says Prince. 

Six years later, Tom Tom’s has made a name for itself in local shops in Tobago’s capital Scarborough, with its delicious fudge and indigenous sweets made from fruits, nuts, and “benne seeds” - a local name for sesame seeds.

 
 

Tom Tom’s signature sweets are gaining a foothold among Tobago’s tourists.

These types of local sweets are a popular souvenir for tourists to remember their time in tropical Tobago, and in 2020 Prince began thinking about how to capitalize on the tourism market.  When COVID hit, tourism slumped – but she never lost sight of her goal to expand her business. 

Prince got a boost in 2022 through the U.S. government’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, which helped her to reposition her product for the tourism industry at a time when visitors started coming back to the Caribbean in force. 

“AWE was a beautiful experience,” says Prince. “It pushed me to think beyond where my business was, to where my business could be – and reach people where they are.”   
Shanice Prince displaying Tom Tom’s at a pop-up trade fair in Tobago.

She explained how AWE’s different lecturers and U.S. exchange alumni mentors taught her about product positioning and targeted marketing.  Since Prince wanted to reach tourists, they encouraged her to pursue product placement beyond just local grocers, and approach hotels and airlines.

As a result of AWE, Prince's customer base grew from local consumers to businesses affiliated with the tourism sector, attracting hotels and restaurants eager to collaborate and promote her products.   

“Tom Tom’s started getting a lot of exposure, a lot of orders – for things like weddings, or orders from families living abroad coming home to Tobago.  It was so much we had to bring on two new employees,” says Prince. 

Tom Tom’s also caught the eye of Tobago’s Trade Minister who tasted the sweet delights at a pop-up trade fair in the capital – which led to an invitation for Prince to represent the island at the Trinidad and Tobago Day in New York City this past August.   

Prince collaborated with other local entrepreneurs to travel as a group and fundraised locally to make the trip possible, saying she believes that small businesses are important in Tobago because they can accelerate the island’s economic growth and create new employment opportunities.

For her personally, the trip to New York opened opportunities to expand her client base. 
Shanice Prince on the streets of New York City where she represented her island at Trinidad and Tobago Day.

“I had talks with people in New York who would like to have our products exported,” says Prince. “We have to go through the export channels before we get into the U.S. market - it’s a process. But it will have a positive effect on my business.”

She credits her current expansion in part to her AWE experience, which involved a lot of juggling between work, studying and being a mother. 

“The experience was hard sometimes, I had to be in class, I was also doing my bachelor’s degree, I have two kids, I am a wife, I am a nurse,” she says, with a glint of pride. “It was hard to stay on top of it. But it pushed me, it made me realize what I am capable of.” 

When asked what she has to say to women who dream of opening their own business, Prince had a clear message:  

“Do your homework, and don’t backpedal on your dreams,” she says, chuckling. “You have to believe in yourself and what you have learned, and use it to build new relationships and smash all your goals.” 

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, a U.S. Department of State program in partnership with Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and Freeport McMoran Foundation, gives women the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses. Since 2021, the U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago has empowered more than 50 women across both islands, with plans to welcome another 60 women to AWE in 2022. 

For more information, please visit: https://eca.state.gov/awe.

Pages

Subscribe to Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs RSS