The Loozeele Initiative was birthed from Teni’s thesis project at Ashesi University. Loozeele, which means “there is hope”, trains and supports young females and kayayei (head porters) from the northern part of Ghana with entrepreneurship skills to enable them to create a source of income in the North for themselves and others, while working towards their education and career goals.

Having worked as a kayayoo (head porter) to support herself through her secondary school education, Teni started Loozeele to help girls like herself have a better future. Like most of her classmates, Teni dropped out of school to work as kayayei as it seemed like the easiest option at that time was to quit school and focus on making money to alleviate their problems. “I vividly remember how we used to sleep on the street with our legs tied together to protect ourselves. Some of my friends were raped, ended up pregnant and I lost touch with others. Fortunately, I got the opportunity to study at Ashesi and was even awarded with a full scholarship.” So far, Loozeele has supported 40 kayayei girls from the Upper East Region to create a livelihood for themselves and their families while living in the North. In addition, Loozeele helps the girls sell their products to reduce the risks involved in acquiring customers.

“I have come to understand why being a kayayei is considered the optimal solution for women in the North. Consequently, I have envisioned and devised ways to improve the North in order to influence the kayayei to stay, work and accomplish their dreams,” stated Teni. “I am inspired to help these vulnerable girls become the great women they dream to be and I am following my dream to bring development to northern Ghana whilst reducing poverty and promoting education. I am motived to give them hope and let them know that everything is possible if they are ready and willing to work for it. I want them to know that they could not choose their parents or where they came from, but they have the power to determine who they want to be through resilience, hope and a lot of hard work.”

Currently, 25 girls who were working as kayayei in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Region of Ghana are back in the Upper East region (northern part of Ghana), making a living with the skills they have acquired in making baskets, bags, smocks, and shea butter. After school, they make the items and send the finished products to Loozeele on a weekly basis. After Loozeele sells the products, 5% of the revenue is contributed towards an annual educational program and 20% of the profit is saved for school needs and other unforeseen circumstances.

“One of our biggest challenges has been in the area of finance. We need money to buy simple machines that will help us make the products more efficiently. The second challenge is getting the products to market. The third and biggest challenge is mindset related. It is very difficult to convince a young girl working as a Kayayoo in the streets of Kumasi and Accra to go home – that there is a better life for her there, when she has lived that life and knows that life at home is a struggle”. Currently, Loozeele is building its first center in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, to help the girls work more efficiently. Presently, the girls work from home and the hope is that this center will help them increase their productivity and be more organized.

“Ashesi has taught me to be resilient and pursue my mission no matter what. So, I worked for a year and saved enough to start Loozeele with just two girls,” shared Teni. She is driven with a deep conviction to make an impact in society and transform lives. “We have a collective responsibility to give back to our communities more than we take from it. Let’s do our best to create the change we want to see and remember that helping people is not a burden; it is an opportunity to impact someone’s life.”