Building on the success of its Femmes d’Avenir programme in supporting women entrepreneurs, rolled out in Gabon in 2022 and Senegal in 2023, Eramet is extending the scheme to Argentina. The programme remains a big success in Africa.

In Argentina, the Femmes d’Avenir programme is being set up through a partnership between Eramet and Pro Mujer. Over three years, it will enable 1,200 women to attend a six-week training course to develop and strengthen their personal and entrepreneurial skills. The aim is to contribute to the economic and social development of the Salta region, where the Group is based.

The programme was inaugurated alongside the opening of Eramet’s new lithium plant in Salta on 2 July, in the presence of many of the women attending the first training course and Virginie de Chassey, Eramet’s Chief Sustainability and External Affairs Officer.

This initiative is part of the Eramet Beyond for Contributive Impacts programme under the Group’s CSR roadmap, Act for Positive Mining.

Two award winners in Gabon

The closing ceremony of the second year of the Femmes d’Avenir programme in Gabon was held in Libreville in June, for the 22 highly-motivated women entrepreneurs who received support to develop their businesses over one year.

Twelve of them pitched their projects to a panel of business angels and executives. Two winners, Rebecca Do Nascimento, who has set up a home dry-cleaning business in Libreville, and Darcy, were awarded a €5,000 grant funded by Eramet to enable them to take further training or purchase equipment to give their business a boost.

Since the start of the year, over a hundred women entrepreneurs have also taken part in boot-camps in Libreville and Moanda as part of the programme. They received training in topics such as business management, strategic planning and financial management.

The participants demonstrated a remarkable ability to present their entrepreneurial projects in a structured and relevant way, which attests to the progress they have made over the last few months thanks to the programme. I’m delighted that they’ve been given a platform to share their vision and project with potential investors.

Romane BOSSARD
Sponsorship and Partnerships Manager at Eramet

A great first year in Senegal

In Senegal, Femmes d’Avenir was launched last year to foster the success of more than 600 women entrepreneurs by 2026.

In this first year, more than 170 women took part in intensive boot-camps over several days to boost their business, in particular by developing soft skills and networking. Five established entrepreneurs also received more in-depth support, including training, mentoring and coaching.

The participants met at the Ecole Polytechnique in Thiès in May to mark the success of the first year of the programme. The winners had the opportunity to talk about their experience to the national press before receiving their certificates of achievement.