Dream Girls Academy Seeks To Empower Girls And Young Women Through Mentorship Programmes. The Dream Girls Academy is a mentorship & empowerment organisation for teen girls and young women. The programme was initiated in response to the lack of education for young underprivileged girls and aims to empower these girls to positively impact their personal circumstances and break the cycle of poverty in their communities. The Dream Girls Academy focuses on encouraging young women to plan for the future, fulfil their potential, get a tertiary education and become independent, empowered and successful professionals or entrepreneurs.
The Dream Girls Academy is a sisterhood of empowered women driven to empower other teen girls and young women. It supports support young females to move from economic dependency to self-sufficiency and become positive contributing members of a thriving society. It offers a wide range of female empowerment services in the form of structured mentorship programmes, personal development coaching, empowerment workshops & events, corporate employee volunteer programmes, financial study aid and outreach projects.
Dream Girls Academy was co-founded in Johannesburg in 2011 by Ezlyn Barends who also serves as the company’s Founding Director. She was determined to build a sisterhood and legacy by making a positive impact on the lives of young women. Barends was recognised as a Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans to Watch and World Economic Forum Global Shaper. She has over 10 years of professional experience spanning strategic planning, business development, marketing and social entrepreneurship. Barends also possesses a unique set of skills and diverse experience that enables a strong and broad business perspective.
The Dream Girls Academy provides a structured mentorship and empowerment programme that focuses on encouraging young women to educate themselves and become successful well-rounded trailblazers and change-makers. In March 2012, It launched the first mentorship programme at a school in Yeoville, Johannesburg, with a mere 30 girls and by the end of 2018, over 750 teen girls and young women across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Welkom and Polokwane have been empowered through the organisation and have graduated from the mentorship programme. The organisation has plans to extend its programmes countrywide and internationally.
