Adjo Dede Asare has over seven years of experience starting up and growing businesses. Dede is currently the managing director of Alfie Designs, a family-owned fashion company. As managing director, she sources contracts and manages the human resource staff, the fashion school, as well as the company outlets and franchises within and outside Ghana. She organizes training sessions for the women within her company by liaising with tertiary tutors. Dede is very active in her church, helping to organize quarterly soup kitchens and to provide health care services and vocational training to young women. Dede holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Ghana and a Business Administration certificate from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. Upon completion of the Mandela Washington fellowship, Dede plans to expand her fashion business into an international powerhouse while equipping young women with skills to bridge the unemployment gap.