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Team Lead

Creative Economy Consultant on

  • Global cross-cultural platforms
  • Human Dignity Advocate
  • Mentor
  • Trainer
  • Public Speaker
  • Conference Panel Moderator

WHAT I’VE DONE
Joana is a human dignity advocate and a creative economy consultant who spends her time working on programs and projects that create development opportunities and access for the African Youth. She has worked as the Program Coordinator of the Ghana Design Network and is a Design Thinking Training Facilitator, helping to build the ecosystem of Design in Ghana. For the past 5 years, she also worked in the International Trade and Development sector as a project executive for the Ghana Netherlands Business and Culture Council (GNBCC) and a Young Expert for the Netherlands Africa Business Council (NABC) under the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Young Expert Programmes (YEP) from 2018 to 2020.

EXPERIENCE GARNERED
Joana’s background in Creative Economy and International Trade and Development has enabled her to be actively involved in the development and design of Public-Private partnership projects, policy dialogues, private sector enterprises, development partner roundtables, trade missions, student exchanges, stakeholder engagements, and youth development programs. She has managed projects in Agriculture, Education and Creative
Industry, cumulatively working with over a million Euros budgets and engaging over 1,000 young entrepreneurs, women and girls, students and relevant stakeholders using Human Centered Design approaches to build capacity, draw out experiences and write stories for various partners such as Netherlands Embassy, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, British Council, UNICEF, UNDP, PACT Ghana, MEST Africa, CARE and Kosmos Innovation Centre(KIC).

QUALIFICATIONS/INTERESTS
She is a passed finalist of CIMA Global (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), holds a Pre-MBA summer certificate from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS, Shanghai), and a BSc. Degree in Business Administration from Central University, Ghana. She loves to travel, experience new people and new cultures and creatively write stories of her experiences. She is also a foodie and a lover of music and afro beat dance

SNAPSHOT OF CONTRIBUTION TO SOME PROJECTS/PROGRAMMES

Programmes Managed

  • The Netherlands Embassy’s Dutch Export Academy for young Ghanaian entrepreneurs
  • Women in Design
  • Creative Enterprise Programme with British Council West Africa and Nesta UK
  • New Business Challenge (Ghanaian-Dutch student exchange program)
  • Visual Activist and AfroFemme (Women) Campaigns for PICHA
  • Design and export trade missions/ exchanges to the Netherlands among others.

Researches and Business Partner scans Conducted

  •  Design for Green Agribusinesses
  • Ballore Mango Processing Opportunities
  • Opportunities for cleantech/green businesses in Ghana for SNV/GCIC
  • Job Satisfaction in companies: A case of Britanica factory
  • Polygamy and its effects on Human Development

Trainings and Facilitation

  • Design Thinking Trainings for Women in Agritech
  • WeGrow Hackathon (MEST Africa, CARE, Danida, Bluetown)
  • Creative Enterprise Training (Business skills for Creatives)
  • Human Centered Design for Social development -Focus on Family Care (PACT)

Panel Moderation

  • African Business Innovation Forum
  • Ghana Trade Exhibition
  • Global Markets (British Council)
  • Afrofuturism and SKIN Exhibitions (PICHA)

Speaking Engagements and Summits/ Conferences

  • Human Centered Design Approach for Social Development (Coastal and Marine
    communities- UCC)
  • Design Thinking Conferences (Digital Adaptation and Hybrid formats)
  • Rethinking Science for Citizen Social Science (CoAct-Global Innovation Gathering,
    Germany)
  • SoCreative Summit (Zimbabwe)
  • Africa’s Visual Economy- The power of Creative Businesses (Scale Up Africa)
  • Addressing Inequality and Inclusion through the Creative Industry (Guest Lecture
  • Academie Artemis, Amsterdam

Biography

Joana is a human dignity advocate and a creative economy consultant who spends her time working on programs and projects that create development opportunities and access for the African Youth. She has worked as the Program Coordinator of the Ghana Design Network and is a Design Thinking Training Facilitator, helping to build the ecosystem of Design in Ghana. For the past 5 years, she also worked in the International Trade and Development sector as a project executive for the Ghana Netherlands Business and Culture Council (GNBCC) and a Young Expert for the Netherlands Africa Business Council (NABC) under the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Young Expert Programmes (YEP) from 2018 to 2020.

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