Under the Ministry for Business Development, the first ever Women Entrepreneurship Conference was held in Accra on Tuesday 20th Feb. 2018 which was aimed at highlighting the opportunities presented by the current initiatives of the Government and how entrepreneurs especially women can make good use of that and take advantage of it.
The conference which was under the theme “Unleashing Women Entrepreneurship for Inclusive Growth” was attended by prominent women entrepreneurs, Business leaders, Diplomatic corps, Queen mothers, Ambassadors and the Second lady of the Republic of Ghana Hajia Samira Bawumia who gave the keynote address.
In his address, the Minister of Business Development Hon. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal hinted that, Women when given the opportunity to handle business can perform massively than their male counterparts so therefore it is imperative as individuals and collectively help remove the shackles and obstacles that hinder their prosperity.
According to him, women are very important minders of business and they constitute a significant percentage contributing to sustainable inclusive growth in the country that is the more reason President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has allocated GHȻ10m to support young women entrepreneurs in Ghana.
“Ministry of finance is working on it and within couple of months, the funds should be available to startup. This money is for all category of businesses traders, ICT, agro business and stakeholders should take the advantage”, Hon. Awal indicated.
The Minister has however asked experienced business women to support and mentor upcoming entrepreneurs to be able to meet the demands of the job market.
Mr. Awal has pledged the Government and his Ministry’s readiness and commitment in promoting entrepreneurs as well as helping upcoming women entrepreneurs to become champions of business in Africa adding that, “when you do business and slip, don’t think you are a failure the most important thing is to get up and continue. A lot of successful business men and women didn’t get it the first time, they had to go down and up, so please when you slip get up, pick it up, fix it and move on”.
In her keynote address, the wife of the Vice President of the republic of Ghana Her Excellency, Mrs. Samira Bawumia disclosed that, there are quite a number of evidences that show a lot of businesses in the country and Africa are owned and run by women and are very active participants in the growth of economics across Sub-saharan Africa.
She added that, about 80% of women in Ghana are engaged in various economic activities. Statistical Services estimates that women make up 50.5% of the labor force. The Statistical Service further reports in the Ghana Living Standards Survey (2014) that the formal sector employs about 6.2% of women; 3.3% in the public sector and 2.9% in the country.
Furthermore, the Second lady stressed that, there are many studies that have shown that investing in women has a multiplier effect, hence there is the need to accelerate our economic development and inclusive growth.
“In spite of this fact, women face great challenges and have to struggle with many constraints in raising funds and mobilizing revenues. That sets them back in the pursuit of entrepreneurship and economic empowerment”, Her Excellency Samira disclosed.
According to her, the World Bank report indicates that only 47% of women globally have access to formal financial institutions and saving mechanisms; making access to credit a critical challenge for women in business which poses as the main hindrance to success.
Her Excellency Samira however assured that, “fortunately, these challenges are not insurmountable, and efforts are being made by government to address some of them in the short, medium and long term”.
The Second lady proposed that the deliberations from the Conference should be properly documented to feed the national development policy.
Women entrepreneurs at the conference discussed the plight confronting the Ghanaian entrepreneurs including access to funding.