Poobat Cecelia Kennedy Konlan (Dioukgbankagbenu) is the Queen Mother of Tiojin Bouk in the Bunkpurugu/Nakpanduri District of the North East Region of Ghana. She is a respected traditional leader, farmer, philanthropist, and agripreneur dedicated to improving the livelihoods of women, widows, and young people within her community and beyond.
She is the founder of the Dajrim Foundation, an agribusiness and social development organization focused on empowering women groups, widows, and youth through sustainable agricultural production and value addition. Through the Foundation, she supports beneficiary groups to cultivate key crops such as maize, soybean, and vegetables year-round, promoting food security and economic empowerment in rural communities.
A key feature of her work is her innovative input financing and repayment model, where she partners with companies and financial institutions, including banks, to provide farm inputs to women’s groups on credit. Beneficiaries cultivate their farms using these inputs and repay in-kind after harvest. This model has strengthened access to production resources while promoting accountability and sustainability in rural agribusiness development.Beyond agriculture, Poobat Cecelia Kennedy Konlan is a strong advocate for the rights and welfare of women in the North East Region. Her advocacy efforts have contributed to community-based interventions, including the rehabilitation and treatment of mental health challenges, particularly among vulnerable women and marginalized groups.
She is also actively engaged in value addition and agro-processing, transforming raw agricultural products into finished goods to improve income generation and market value. Notably, she is involved in processing shea butter into pomade and medicinal products, which are widely used within her region for both commercial and therapeutic purposes.
She brings deep grassroots experience in rural development, traditional leadership insight, women’s economic empowerment, and community-based agribusiness models. Her practical understanding of farming systems, coupled with her philanthropic and advocacy work, strengthens the Foundation’s mission to empower women, youth, and agribusiness communities across Ghana.
She is also actively involved in supporting Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), promoting their inclusion in agricultural activities, livelihood development, and economic empowerment. Through her community-based initiatives, she works to create opportunities for PWDs to participate in agribusiness, access productive resources, and develop sustainable income-generating activities. Her commitment to inclusive development reflects her belief that every individual, regardless of ability, should have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the agricultural sector and improve their quality of life.