Profile: Patricia Mawuli – Ghana’s female flying pioneer

Patricia Mawuli

“Young people should understand that hard work is the only secret to success and you must stay focused in everything you do if you want to succeed in life.”
– Patricia Mawuli

Patricia Mawuli, 24, has broken barriers, by becoming the first female pilot trained in her native Ghana, and is on a mission to train other young women in rural Ghana, gain opportunities in aviation.

At age 19, Mawuli, who was fascinated by aircraft sought work with the WAASPS – a social entrepreneurship project in Ghana. The WAASPS provide – pilot training, build aircraft, aircraft maintenance, expertise for aerial survey, agricultural surveillance and plantation selection work.

She was put to work – she was provided with a machete and a mattock and told to remove tree stumps and cut the grass on the field. Mawuli took it on without hesitation. Her hard work paid off, and soon she was being given flying lessons – she earned her private ultralight pilot certificate on her twenty-first birthday to become the first woman to earn the West African country’s national pilot certificate.

The certificate provides an avenue for Ghanaians to learn to fly general aviation aircraft in their home country, where certification has traditionally been geared toward commercial and military flying.

Read more: BBC