Promising female entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mara Foods, Maria Johana Yuorpor has been honored at the 2022 edition of the Women In Entrepreneurship Awards (WIEA), a scheme that empowers and recognizes the strong impactful effort by women in the business industry.
The Mara Foods CEO was recognized Upper West Region WEIA Honoree for her impact in society.
WIEA is an empowerment initiative by the Women In Entrepreneurship Ghana (WIEG) which seeks to showcase women-owned enterprises and celebrate women entrepreneurs, and in the process shine a national light on their priceless work which improves many lives in Ghana.
Maria Johana, under her Beautiful Smiles Project, has been impacting positively in society through a number of skills training and human capital empowerment activities.
The Beautiful Smiles Project initiative aims at empowering rural women to build their businesses; creating adolescent reproductive health awareness; promoting young female businesses; through skills training, business coaching and mentorship in the Upper West Region.
Only this year, so far, Maria Johana has reached out to over 1,000 people directly and hundreds of thousands indirectly through her community visits, group engagements, and other outreach activities within the region.
This number included women in villages, and in towns; University students, and graduates; pupils in Junior High and Primary schools; and other targeted groups.
The women in rural areas have been helped to identify and take advantage of some viable business opportunities within their surroundings in areas of agriculture, food processing, soap making, among others.
She has helped to scale up the potentials, production capacities and resilience of some already existing women businesses and also in the building of new ones.
Maria Johana, through her experience in business growth, expertise in organizational development, and business and life coaching abilities, has mentored many youths within the Upper West Region and beyond.
She has been guest speaker and panelist in several youth fora and symposia where she mentors and inspires young people to build their own businesses and be successful in life.
Mara Foods commercializes in the processing and packaging of hygienically healthy and nutritious indigenous Ghanaian foods such as dawadawa spice and tea, moringa powder, baobab fruit powder, tamarin powder, tiger nut powder, peanut butter chips, prekese powder, among others.
It does nationwide delivery of the products which are healthy and purely organic with no preservatives or additives.
Under her consortium – Mara Foods, Mara Closet, and Beautiful Smiles Project, Maria Johana Yuorpor seeks to create an empowered community of women, girls and youth where poverty is done with and living standards improved.
Her focus is on the attainment of the United Nations’ global goals of poverty elimination, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, and decent work and economic growth.