Model Portia Gana Gets Over 30,000ghc Corporate Sponsorships For NGO

Model Portia Gana secured corporate sponsorship from Aphro, Selewi Voyage and MODERN FLOORS to donate Menstrual hygiene products to students from 5 junior high schools, 2 senior high schools and several trade schools in the Jirapa district in the upper west region of Ghana through her self titled nonprofit, Portia Gana Foundation as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility in efforts to lower teen pregnancy rates and fight period poverty. 

Period poverty is the lack of access to basic period hygiene products which cause a mountain of problems such as school dropouts, teens on the streets,  teen pregnancies, single teen moms, abandoned babies, malnourished and malformed babies, over capacity orphanages, etc. Period pads that previously retailed at 5-10ghc/pack which were unaffordable by many girls in the Upper West, now cost 15-20ghc/pack making the situation even more dire. 

MODERN FLOORS®️, a UK trademarked flooring brand which wholesales & retails the Best Quality indoor and outdoor flooring products used for both Residential & Commercial spaces in Ghana, donated over 20,000ghc in June 2023 making them the largest donor yet. This provided a three month supply of pads for 400 girls in need and 100 sustainable period cups that can be used for 10 years.

Aphro, Ghana’s premium triple distilled akpeteshie beverage company making waves in the industry, swooped in at a critical time of need to donate 5,000ghc to the foundation to help purchase sustainable period hygiene products for the girls in need. 

Selewi Voyage, a luxury concierge company provided a three months supply of pads for roughly 90 girls valued at 2,700ghc.

Menses Cup Ghana donated period cups valued at 1350ghc. 

Ahvor atelier clothing has provided 200 carry bags for the period hygiene cups and 1000 packaging bags saving the foundation 2,000ghc.

With the recent help of all the corporate sponsors and donations she has been able to organize a few health talks catering to a total of 1000 elementary and high school girls. With each seminar, the girls are fed, taught about Menstrual health, hygiene products and breast cancer and are given menstrual cups which last ten years or a three month supply of menstrual pads.

We asked Portia Gana to tell us about her foundation, how she managed to get the corporate support and what her next steps are. 

“I started the Portia Gana Foundation nonprofit journey over 8 years ago but faced many hurdles which made me put my nonprofit on hold and support other established NGOs instead for 6 years while I worked on getting my own up and running. After the lockdown I finally registered the NGO in 2021 and started officially supporting people in need through the foundation.

The main aim of the foundation is eradication of poverty through the education and health sectors. By encouraging private citizens and corporate entities to support and improve government essential bodies like hospitals, clinics and schools in rural areas we elevate their quality of life promoting development and reducing poverty. We also decrease poverty rates by fighting Period poverty which in turn helps decrease the teen pregnancy rates, single mother rates, malnourished newborn rate, female student dropout rates and lowers female kayayo (head porters) in the streets. 

 When I first officially started I was using any little money I had to support those in need. All profits from my online clothing store Ahvor.com went straight to the ngo. I then opened it up to my social network and got a few supporters here and there. We would collect “the drops of water” and maximize our impact as much as possible. If it meant taking an 18 hour bus ride instead of flying and sleeping on the floor of one of the nurse’s homes instead of a hotel so we would have as much money as possible to spend on the girls I did it in the first year. After over a year of self funding and crowd sourcing and gaining content and data I took the next steps to write up pitches and submit to various corporations. Nothing came overnight, they were all a result of extensive conversations, meetings, many rejections and unfulfilled pledges over the years to finally all come together now.

I’ve taken online college courses on philanthropy and fundraising and I’m actually still taking courses I come across to help me know how to do better and create more impact. I’m proud to say since the beginning of this period poverty fight we have been able to cater to over 2,000 girls and counting. 

I’m grateful to all the individuals and corporations who donated to help make this campaign a continuous success. From Kolture Apparel who has printed shirts, to Gaia cup who drastically lowered their period cups so we could purchase more each donation cycle, Ghana Education Services who give permission for the girls to attend the seminars during school days, Ghana Health Services and the nurses at the Jirapa Urban Health Center who always lend their time to help organize, distribute and educate the girls. 

I’m excited to build up my current corporate relationships and can’t wait to see who will support us for the next donation to impact even more vulnerable School girls in need. 

I would love to get in touch with someone at Softcare or another pad company and Passion Air for the next cycle of donations. I hope to transition to 80% corporate funding for all our projects and 20% crowd sourcing and self funding. I also plan on expanding to other regions soon.”

Portia’s philanthropic work earned her a recent 40 under 40 awards charity nomination. We believe this will be the first of many awards to come. 

If you would like to donate your time, resources, or provide financial support visit her website at portiaganafoundation.org. They also collect used baby/children clothes and goods. 

Follow their social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @portiaganafoundation