Vice Presidential Pool Reports of March 29, 2023

VP Supplemental Pool #1 - Women's empowerment event in Ghana (part 1)

Good morning all -- I'll be your pooler for much of the rest of the VP's trip to Africa.

As a reminder, she starts the day in Accra, will hold a public event (to announce about $1b in new public/private/foundation funds for African entrepreneurs, much of the money is earmarked for women). Then VP Harris will fly to Tanzania.

ACCRA

* VP motorcade left Kampinski Hotel at 11:10 AM local time (four hours ahead of DC).

* VP arrived at 11:26 the Mix Design Hub, a work space and gallery in the trendy Osu neighborhood in Accra. >https://www.themixdesignhub.com/<. It's near homes with wall and b

* At 11:48 AM the Pool was ushered into to a pool spray and remarks by Harris. Harris was seated at the top of a U-shaped table, others seated around her included the US ambassador to Ghana and several female African business owners.

Harris spoke for about 8 minutes at the top. Here are some quotes:

"When we lift up the economic status of women, we lift up the economic status of families, of communities – and all of society benefits." "There's a direct correlation between policies that are directed at the economic empowerment of women and the general prosperity of societies."

* In total, these investments represent more than $1 billion that is being dedicated to advance women's economic participation across the African continent.

* Harris said the investments will do three things: Help digitize women-owned businesses, provide access to capital, health care and education and combat gender based violence.

* "There's the subtle but profound difference between an effort to increase women's inclusion and the correlated effort that must be intentional to increase women's leadership. "

* Women must have the opportunity and the access ... to achieve their goals, their desire and their potential to also lead. "

* "To shatter a glass ceiling is not without effort and sometimes some pain. Am I right? But oh, isn't it worth it"

FACT SHEET ON THE VPs EVENT

On Background from a White House Official – Embargoed until 6:00 AM GMT/2:00AM ET
On Wednesday, March 29, Vice President Harris will meet with six Ghanaian women entrepreneurs to speak about the empowerment of women, including on inclusion and leadership. The Vice President will hear their stories of how they have established successful businesses. The participants will speak to the challenges and opportunities of building a business in Ghana and the impact they have been able to make in their communities. This engagement will take place at The Mix Design Hub, a woman-owned restaurant, gallery and co-working space.

See an embargoed fact sheet attached for announcements the Vice President is making to support the economic empowerment of women.

The Vice President is using her global leadership position to advance the standing and status of women around the world. When she travels abroad and throughout her diplomatic and foreign policy engagements, the Vice President deliberately and consistently advances gender policy issues. When traveling overseas, the Vice President makes an effort to meet with and lift up the voices of women and girls. Her diplomatic work on gender issues builds on her work throughout her career fighting for women and girls and complements her domestic efforts on policy issues related to gender equity and equality.

Bios of Roundtable Participants:
Dr. Grace Ayensu-Danquah
Dr. Ayensu-Danquah is a U.S. trained board certified general and reconstructive surgeon. She is a Professor of Surgery at University of Utah Medical School in the United States and visiting faculty at the University of Cape Coast Medical School in Ghana. She is the founder and CEO of medical non-profit NGO called Healing Hands Organization, which brings U.S. doctors and medical personnel to Ghana once a year for free surgical and medical mission. She is also the CEO and Medical Director of Sage Medical Center, a dialysis and surgical specialist hospital in East Legon Accra.

Priscilla Akoto Bamfo, Founder, Shepherd's Mills
Priscilla is the founder of Shepherd's Mills, a rice milling, and packaging company located in Giana within the Savelugu-Nanton District of the Northern Region of Ghana. She engages rural women who are largely involved in parboiling activities. The company also produces, Zinaria Rice, a branded product launched onto the market in 2019. Zinaria Rice is recognized by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as one of the best locally produced rice brands in Ghana.

Farida Bedwei, Co-Founder, Logiciel (NOTE FROM POOL - THIS PERSON DROPPED OFF THE SKED, ACCORDING TO THE VP'S OFFICE. SHE WILL NOT ATTEND THE EVENT)
Farida Nana Efua Bedwei is a Ghanaian software engineer and cofounder of Logiciel, a fin-tech company in Ghana. Farida Bedwei has built mobile and enterprise applications, and is known for her knowledge of software architecture. She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of one and was home schooled until 12 years. In April 2011, she set up her own company, Logiciel Ltd, Accra, Ghana, where she is the co-founder and chief technology officer. At Logiciel Ltd, she led the creation and successful implementation of gKudi, a web-based (cloud) banking software suite for the micro-finance industry, used by 130 micro-finance institutions nationwide. In 2015, she authored her first book, a mini-autobiography titled: Definition of a Miracle. She has since received several awards and appointments including her appointment to the Board of Ghana's National Communication Authority. Farida also created a cerebral palsy superhero. Her comic character called Karmzah gets her power from her crutches that she has to use for her cerebral palsy.

Fafape Ama Etsa Foe, CEO, E90 Ghana Limited
Fafape is the CEO of E90 Ghana Ltd, a leading mushroom producer in Ghana and she is affectionately called the "Mushroom Queen." Her company uses the environmental pollutant (sawdust) to produce mushrooms on a large scale which helps in Climate change and protects the environment from carbon monoxide which results from the indiscriminate burning of sawdust. Mushroom Farming also gives her the opportunity to employ, train, and empower women to use mushroom farming as a means to financial empowerment of which she has already trained over 500 women.

Joyce Gyebi (aka Mukase Chic), Culinary Entrepreneur
Joyce Gyebi, known as Mukase Chic, is a culinary entrepreneur with food blogging & styling, catering, a food bank and food events under her entrepreneurship umbrella. She works as a food consultant for most of Ghana's production companies and global agencies on recipe development, production, event curation and strategy. Joyce leads the team that curates 'The Jollof Festival', 'The Food Business Seminar', 'Eat Accra', and is the founder of the 'Culinary for Social Change'. She uses her experience to share recipes, food history, and stories through her cooking masterclasses, market tours and food seminars, catering to a broad section of Africans, diasporans, Michelin star culinary entrepreneur Claus Meyer, and the past three years, students of the University of New York. She is also an esteemed member of the Mandela Washington Fellowship and the International Institute of Gastronomy. Recently she has taken to social media to use her platform to highlight the unsung heroines of the food industry in Ghana.

Mawuse Gyisun, CEO and Co-Founder, Sommalife
Mawuse leads Sommalife, a social enterprise that uses modern technology to create sustainable income and impact in rural communities. It is dedicated to establishing a future where rural women get the income and rewards they deserve for the value they create. Their vision is to eliminate the gap between stakeholders in the shea value chain and to guarantee transparency and traceability.

Ruka Yaro De-Liman, CEO, Jamilullah Farm Enterprise
Ruka is a poultry farmer and an agribusiness entrepreneur with relevant skills in enterprise and rural development. She is the CEO of Jamilullah Farm Enterprise, an agribusiness providing healthy meat and eggs whiles simultaneously improving the livelihoods of rural women.

Key Previous Foreign Policy Remarks/Engagements

• November 21, 2022: Conversation with young women on gender equity in Manila, Philippines (Video, Remarks)
• November 21, 2022: Meeting with Filipina civil society leaders and human rights defenders and civil society in Manila, Philippines (Readout)
• September 29, 2022: Meeting with groundbreaking Korean women, in Seoul, Republic of Korea (Readout, Remarks)
• June 7, 2022: Roundtable with women business executives, entrepreneurs, and civil society leaders to discuss women's economic empowerment in northern Central America, in Los Angeles, California (Readout)
• June 7, 2022: Remarks to launch the "In Her Hands Initiative for women in northern Central America and to announce other related U.S. government initiatives, in Los Angeles, California (Remarks, Fact Sheet)
• January 25, 2022: Remarks at the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (Remarks)
• July 29, 2022: Launch of Root Causes Strategy, with pillar on combating sexual, gender-based and domestic violence (Fact Sheet)
• June 30, 2021: Remarks at Generation Equality Forum (Remarks)
• June 8, 2021: Meeting with women entrepreneurs in Mexico City, Mexico (Remarks)
• June 7, 2021: Meeting with community leaders in Guatemala City, Guatemala (Remarks)
• April 27, 2021: Virtual roundtable with community leaders from Guatemala (Remarks)

VP supplemental pool report 2 - Harris gaggle in Ghana

Hello --
Harris gaggled with reporters in Accra. Reporters sat around tables arranged in an oval. Harris sat at the end.

Topics included
*Israel
*Reparations
*Window that US has to improve relations on the continent
*Urging the IMF to restructure debt for some African nations with Chinese loans
Harris also reflect a lot on her visit to the Cape Coast Castle yesterday where people were kept before boarding slave ships

Here is the otter:
https://otter.ai/u/HIiTifFQ9e1wM2dKx6LVtyFh9rg?utm_source=copy_url

(We are heading to the airport and it is unclear if there will be wifi on AF2, so just trying to get this out before we go wheels up.)

* 1:20 PM Harrs motorcade left the women's empowerment event, en route to the airport. She will be flying from Ghana to Tanzania.

* 1:36 PM Harris motorcade arrived at the airport in Ghana

VP pool note 3 - land and drop off in Tanzania

VP pool note 3 - land in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

*AF2 lands in Dar es Salaam around 11 pm local after a roughly six hour flight from Accra.

Greeters waving US and Tanzanian flags and wearing white T-shirts with VP Harris"s portrait. They are wearing clothes around their waisted adorned with likeness of Tanzanian leader Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is a woman. Some people are dancing. And there's a band playing.

Red carpet laid out on the tarmac going up ti the plane's stairs.

Harris walked down the steps around 11:20 local. She accepted a bouquet of flowers.

The motorcade left the airport at 11:26 pm

And we broke off from the motorcade at 11:43 pm to go to our hotel. Pool is staying at a separate hotel. Pool did not see Harris dropped.

Note: due to some connectivity issues in Accra, we had a bit of trouble getting our initial pool reports out. Thanks for the patience with that.