Actress, broadcaster and multiple international award winner, Akumaa Mama Zimbi known privately as Mrs. Joyce Akumaa Dongotey-Padi who has become a cultural icon in Ghana and gradually stepping to other parts of Africa has once again received another prestigious award.

She received the ‘Prestigious Feminine Personality Award, 2012’ for her feminine leadership in the media in Ghana and also for her leadership in the empowerment of women and girls through her Mama Zimbi Foundation (MZF). This award was given to her by the Leadership Empowerment Consult at the University of Cape Coast.

In the citation, it was stated that the award is been giving to her as a celebration of her persistence from humble beginnings to dedication, ingenuity and commitment that unveils her as an epitome of exceptional feminine leadership. It was added that, her strong interpersonal skills and unparallel abilities have made her a role model to the many young African women who pursue the field of excellence. And all these attributes have made her a cultural icon and a titanic symbol of what the perseverance of the African woman can achieve.

On receiving this prestigious award, Mama Zimbi asked the students, especially the ladies to face life with all devotion, dedication, determination and discipline, and achieve more than what she has been able to achieve in her personal and professional life. She also charged them to always have faith in God and choose the narrow way which is that though the end justifies the means, the means must always be good and morally acceptable.

She also took the opportunity to disclosed that, the Widows Alliance Network (WANE) project for sustainable economic development of widows in Ghana, which is one of the projects undertaken by the Mama Zimbi Foundation (MZF), will hold its 4th National Widows Alliance Conference (WAC) on Saturday, 23rd June, 2012 at the International Trade Fair Centre, La with the theme ‘Widowhood Is Not A Curse, But Ordained By God’. This conference is also to celebrate the United Nations International Widows Day.

Through WANE, over 300 widow groupings have been formed in Ghana with membership swelling to over 6,000 nationwide. The annual national Widows Alliance Conference for advocacy and national widows cohesion is organized on a large scale as the grand occasion where all of Ghana and Africa are made to appreciate the roles widows are playing as ambassadors of change in their communities. It also serves as the ideal dialogue platform for the advocacy of a comprehensive policy and legal direction for elevating the standards of widows in Ghana.