By Abigail Chaponda in London, United Kingdom
Zambia’s First Lady Esther Lungu is on Saturday expected in Liverpool, United Kingdom to attend the SheTrade Global 2018 where she will deliver a keynote speech in her capacity as African Woman Entrepreneurs Program (AWEP) Chairperson. This is in recognition for her commitment towards strong advocacy for women empowerment.
The First Lady is a strong advocate for women’s empowerment and since assuming her tenure as First Lady in 2015, Mrs. Lungu has utilised her distinguished position to reinforce her passion for uplifting the wellbeing of humanity which work she has been doing for more than 23 years.
Mrs. Lungu has used her position to focus on the economic empowerment of women living in rural and hard to reach areas. She advocates for the empowerment of women and girls; maternal and child health; and for persons with disabilities.
The First Lady has joined global leaders to press for the elimination of child marriage, discrimination against persons with disabilities; and elimination of gender based violence.
She is the Founder of the Esther Lungu Foundation Trust andthrough her Foundation, Mrs. Lungu is co-financing food processing equipment for women in agriculture; low cost boarding houses for girl’s education; drilling of boreholes for clean drinking water and assistive devices for children with disabilities.
Mrs Lungu is a member of the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA). She is a member of the Stop Cervical and Breast Cancer First Ladies Forum; patron of the Lafarge Foundation in Zambia and she is also the patron for SOS Children Villages in Zambia.
During the Starkey hearing Foundation 17th Annual awards Gala in July 2017 in Minneapolis U.S.A, the First Lady was awarded as the 2017 Humanitarian Honoree alongside actor, director, writer and founder of the Eastern Congo initiative Ben Affleck; the Wilf Family Foundations; FedEx and Scott Borchetta and Sandi Spike Borchetta of Big Machine Records and Music Has Value. With this award, the First Lady of Zambia joins other notable individuals like Presidents Tony Blair of Britain and Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Archbishop Desmond tutu, sir Richard Branson, actress and philanthropist Jennifer Garner and many others since to receive this award since its introduction in 2000.
The International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations will be hosting its flagship event SheTrade Global in Liverpool, United Kingdom from 26-28 June 2018, where the First Lady will share her wealth of experience and AWEP’s work in advocating for women’s economic interest.
SheTrades is an initiative by the International Trade Centre (ITC) which seeks to connect one million women entrepreneurs to market by 2020. The SheTrades agenda is motivated by the realisation that having more women in the marketplace has a positive impact on businesses in all sectors and the women themselves who benefit from a larger workforce, more competition, and as a result more choices between better products.
Over 500 women owned business and policymakers from across the world will participate in the SheTrade Global, to discuss issues around women’s economic empowerment and explore trade and investment opportunities.
The global event will feature facilitated business to business meetings, keynote speeches from thought leaders, high level panels, an investment challenge aimed at promoting innovation and workshops led by industry specialists.
