Geneva, 26 April 2010

Beatrice Ayuru Byaruhanga of Uganda, who founded Lira Integrated School in northern Uganda in 2000, has won UNCTAD´s 2010 Empretec Women in Business Award. The school, which includes nursery, primary, and secondary education, now has 1,500 students.

Lira Integrated School is located in northern Uganda and provides nursery, primary, and secondary educations to over 1,500 students. Having the three levels at one location is one of the school´s competitive advantages, together with its investment in the quality of its staff, its facilities, and the extra curricular activities it offers students. There is a focus at the school on information technology and computer training. It hopes to be able to attract students from different districts and there are plans to expand the school into a university in two years.

Second among the 10 finalists was Maria de la Luz Osses Klein of Chile, an entrepreneur who established Biotecnologias Antofagasta SA, which creates biotechnology products for the mining industry.

Joy Simakane of Botswana won the third-place award. Her company, Extramile Express PTY Limited, provides customs-clearing and messenger-delivery services.

All 10 finalists for the awards are graduates of the UNCTAD-supported Empretec programme, which trains entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Video clips of the Empretec WBA 2010 ceremony are available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/UnctadEmpretec