Karibib Women Gemstone Centre (KWGC)
Supporting the “Inclusive Economies” theme for GEN Global in 2019.
The business empowers women economically to live dignified lives. Women gains knowledge and skills that will be lasting and could be transferred to other women thereby the ripple effect comes into play resulting a skilled women community in Karibib and beyond.
The business allows women to collaborate and not compete in the journey of empowerment. This will promote human dignity, reduce women unemployment and contribute to women skills acquisition. Women need access to skills and employment, control of their economy and take ownership of their destinies. The business adds value to gemstones, which is a natural resource in the region and mined by small miners. The KWGC buys raw materials from the local small miners and thus does not only improve women quotas in economy and skills development, but also that of the small miners.
The ecosystem/network is that the gemstones will be bought from the suppliers (local small miners), brought to the Women Gemstone Centre for processing and finalising into final products. GEN Namibia as a stakeholder benefit in term of great addition to their company profile of successful enterprise support as business advisors.
The polished and processed gemstones will fill a gap as there are none commercially viable entities at the present in Karibib. The KWGC is a leader in the market and acts as a catalyst for others to follow.. There will be an improvement in service delivery as currently people are buying unpolished and unprocessed gemstones. With greater investment, the polished stones can be sold online to international markets and the productivity of the centre will increase.
The business focus on women empowerment. All activities that are carried out by the KWGC are women oriented and based; inclusive of the management team and trainers. Thus the centre is seeking to empower women economically and also gain valuable knowledge, skills and competencies to compete in a global economy.
The gender impact is that women will be economically empowered and will be able to look after their families like their men counterpart; knowledgeable and productive women.
