Kitchen of Hope
Sanata's Story
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Sanata Ouedraogo is the proud owner of a catering kitchen located within the bustling campus of Université Ouaga 1 Professeur Ki-Zerbo in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Her thriving kitchen serves as an essential hub of sustenance, providing daily meals to an impressive 10,000 to 12,000 students.
In her kitchen, students can savor a choice of 13 delectable dishes, which are prepared each day from 5:30 am onwards.
Her catering company EOS SA has provided employment to over 200 people, the majority of them women.
Sanata sources ingredients from local farmers and producers, and she also imports dry goods from neighboring Côte D'ivoire.
Sanata is now expanding her business to real estate. She is currently constructing 250 affordable homes on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, and working with the government to build 1,000 more.
Thanks to backing from IFC’s client Coris Bank International (CBI), Sanata's culinary and real estate journey has blossomed into a thriving enterprise. Today, the housing business wing alone is worth 1 billion CFA (approximately US$1.6 million.)
Since its inception in 2012, IFC’s Banking on Women program (BOW) has provided financial assistance and business expertise to female-owned SMEs through an innovative investment-advisory model. Collaborating with financial institutions, BOW designs customized value propositions that emphasize both financial and non-financial services to empower female entrepreneurs.
In 2019, IFC’s BOW and Global Trade Finance Programs joined forces to create the BOW Global Trade Finance Program. This Women in Trade initiative encourages banks to increase access to trade finance for female-owned SME entrepreneurs in emerging markets so that they can grow and expand their businesses. This program is supported by the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), a partnership launched by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women and BOW. To date, more than US$260 million of trade finance support has been allocated by this partnership to support more than 233 women entrepreneurs around the world.
Since its launch, BOW has invested US$4.29 billion in emerging market financial institutions, making substantial strides with 251 projects across 76 countries. As the BOW business continues to break barriers and empower women globally, it remains a beacon of progress, setting new benchmarks for gender-inclusive financing.
Read more about IFC’s Banking on Women Global Trade Finance program here. Read more about IFC's Banking on Women program here.
Published March, 2024
"First, I dreamed of becoming a magistrate, or an entrepreneur. As I didn't study well at school, I had to make up for it in real life with the second choice. So, I didn't hesitate to become an entrepreneur. And frankly, I'm very proud to be an entrepreneur."
