On Thursday, June 4, 2026, we celebrated the closing of the first edition of our March 8th Challenge, an initiative designed to raise business awareness of gender-based violence and encourage their commitment to fighting it.

Since March, three Beninese companies took on the challenge: Maison Rouge Cotonou, Le Dahlia, and O2 Bénin.

Throughout the program, each team took part in three three-hour workshops. These sessions of dialogue and reflection helped participants better understand the mechanisms behind gender-based violence, engage with an issue that isn't always part of their day-to-day professional life, and think collectively about concrete solutions.

Beyond the knowledge gained, participants discovered an essential truth: violence against women isn't only a women's issue. It's a societal challenge that involves every one of us.

At the end of the workshops, each team designed and built a project aimed at raising awareness of, preventing, or acting against gender-based violence. At the closing event, the three teams presented their initiatives in four minutes each, before a jury made up of Yatchegbo staff, the president of the Institut National de la Femme, the head of Acropole, the Le Dahlia team, the deputy director of the Institut Français du Bénin, and representatives from Grands Moulins du Bénin.

This first edition of the March 8th Challenge reflects a strong conviction: the fight against gender-based violence also depends on business mobilization and the involvement of every part of society. By giving teams the tools to understand, reflect, and act, this project helps shift mindsets and build more respectful, more equal environments.