African Voices ChangeMakers last Saturday hosed two creative minds who have become employers of labour and encouragement to their ilk.
The magazine programme of the Cable News Network (CNN) is sponsored by Globacom.
Olowo-n’djo Tchala, a Togolese-American and Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alaffia Beauty Company, and Axel-Emmanuel Gbaou, a chocolatier from Côte d’Ivoire, featured on the soar-away programme.
Tchala is a social entrepreneur whose company, Alaffia, with an estimated turnover of $50 million, promotes the economic empowerment of women in Africa and Togo in particular.
Alaffia uses local shea butter, coconut oil and other local beauty ingredients to make personal care brands.
The company and its owner received an Award for Corporate Excellence from the US State Secretary, under the “Women’s economic empowerment” category in 2018 and joined the consultative committee on African trade same year.
Gbaou is passionate about the handling and processing of cocoa beans into delicacies and chocolates.
Though he holds a Master’s degree in Public Law and Political Science and another in Taxation, he stooped to become an apprentice with an Abidjan-based Ivorian chocolatier after which he gained vast knowledge on the possibility of turning cocoa into a variety of delicacies.
He subsequently quit his secure job as a banker to become a professional chocolate maker and, from his mother’s kitchen, Gbaou became Champion of Côte d’Ivoire, Vice-Champion of Africa and Super Laureate of the Alassane Ouattara Prize for Young Entrepreneurs.
Both accomplished entrepreneurs shared their success stories on the programme on DSTV Channel 401 on Saturday at 8.30 a.m.
Repeats were broadcast Sunday at 4.30 a.m., 7.30 a.m., 12.30 p.m., 7.30 p.m. and on Monday at 5.30 a.m.
