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The 8th of March 2013 is International Women�s Day. Worldwide, women are honoured and shown respect for their immense achievements. Vlisco feels women should remain in the spotlight for longer than just one day and in 2013 we celebrate inspiring women, throughout West and Central Africa, for one whole month. This year our theme is BE YOUR DREAM, to celebrate successful women who have made their dreams come true. Vlisco has selected several inspiring women as nominees to win the unique Vlisco Women�s Month BE YOUR DREAM award. The public will vote for the woman who inspires them the most and stand a chance to be winners themselves, with prizes such as VIP tickets to the BE YOUR DREAM award night and tailor-made Vlisco dresses. The celebrations do not end there. Vlisco aims to support ambitious designers and tailors who have bigger dreams of success but need some support. By sending in a business plan of their dream, they have an opportunity to win funding to make their dream come true. The Vlisco Women�s Month BE YOUR DREAM award for Ghana�s most inspirational woman One woman�s achievement often inspires another women�s dream. Many women find great inspiration by witnessing others overcome their challenges and live their dreams. Therefore Ghana�s most inspirational woman will be awarded the Vlisco Women�s Month BE YOUR DREAM award. The winner will be elected by the Ghanaian public, and will be revealed during a festive award night & fashion show on the 6th of April. The whole month of March, everybody is invited to vote for the candidate that inspired them most at any Vlisco shop, or online at beyourdream.vlisco.com. Voting starts on February 18th. Voters can win tickets to the award night & fashion show and a tailor made dress of their choice, made in the latest Super-wax fabric. FASHION DREAM FUND contest & award for talented female fashion designers and tailors Apart from encouraging women to dream, we also want to empower them to unleash their potential. Imaginative female creative fashion professionals (tailors, designers, stylists) can send in their business plan for the VLISCO FASHION DREAM FUND, and win the funding to realize it. Candidates can get more information on beyourdream.vlisco.com. The winners will be selected by a Vlisco jury. Three winners throughout West and Central Africa will respectively win 10,000, 7,000 or 5,000 US Dollars and Vlisco will support them with business advice to help them out. The selected nominees of Ghana for the BE YOUR DREAM award ELLEN MAAMA HAGAN Ellen Maama Hagan is the multi award winning CEO of L�Aine Service Ltd and an inspiration to women all around Africa, with her determination to live up her dream by opening what is now Ghana�s leading human resource organization and taking up the role of an employer of about 3.000 members of staff. CONSTANCE ELIZABETH SWANIKER Constance Swaniker is the CEO of Accents & Arts who has managed, through sheer grit and hard-work, to carve a niche for herself in a male dominated environment. She believes she has broken through the invisible yet clich�d �glass ceiling� and won both the acknowledgement and respect of her male counterparts, collaborators and competitors alike. SHIRLEY FRIMPONG-MANSO Shirley Frimpong-Manso is the CEO of Sparrow Productions and is by far one of the most talented and highly ambitious young women in Ghana today; Shirley seeks to raise the standard of film production in Ghana and Africa by telling progressive African stories as seen through the eyes of Africans. MAWUENA TREBARH Mawuena Trebarh is the Founding Director & Chief Business Strategist of Inspire Africa Consult Ltd, a business strategy and business re-engineering consulting firm. Very recently, she was appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre. She has over a decade and a half of work experience in corporate environments acting as interface for investments in excess of two billion USD and has also been recognized nationally and internationally for excellence in reputation management. ABENA AMOAH Shirley Frimpong-Manso Abena Amoah is an Investment Banker and the Founder & CEO of Baobab Advisors. She sets out to follow a profession that she fell in love with and has risen to the top through sheer hard work. She has chalked a lot of first positions, through her academic and professional life making her one of the most successful women in corporate Ghana today.