Yawa Hansen-Quao is a Ghanaian social entrepreneur and feminist. She is the founder of the Leading Ladies Network (LLN). With a focal point on the education and the welfare of the girl child, she is highly influential when it comes to this discourse in Africa.
Born in 1983, Hansen-Quao had a bi-cultural childhood in Togo and the United States, from where her lifestyle and career path were molded. Active in social development for about two decades, she has been consistently committed to transforming Ghana through different initiatives.
Hansen-Quao’s unwavering belief in the intrinsic leadership of African women births the Leading Ladies Network (LLN), a resource and relationship base for young women as they take leadership roles in government, civil society, corporate organizations, and others. The organization trains young women to be instruments of social change, supporting them in all areas and preparing them to be servant leaders in their chosen fields.
Industrious in revamping the ills of social settings, her resume is chalked with the responsibilities of serving in different capacities. She sits on the board of Ashesi University College and Women’s Institute for Global Leadership, Benedictine University. She is also a member of the African Leadership Network and the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. Hansen-Quao dubs as a leadership consultant to the United Nations, helping to develop leadership curricula to enhance the capacity of women leaders in East and Southern Africa.
She holds a master’s in Gender, Peace, and Security at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre and attained a Certified Corporate Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant at the Protocol School of Washington, USA.
The 37-year-old social entrepreneur was awarded the 2016 Eisenhower Fellows for the inaugural Eisenhower Fellowship Africa Program and recognized as one of the most influential young Africans.