Accra, February 28, 2018//-Ghana’s National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), a non-profit public sector organisation under the Ministry of Trade & Industry has launched its maiden Ghana Women Entrepreneurship Summit (GWES-2018), with a call on the private sector players to double their support for women entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, the Executive Director of the NBSSI, Ms. Kosi Yankey said: “This exciting initiative will create a unique platform for women entrepreneurs that are game-makers and innovators to engage in powerful and thought-provoking conversations, focused on the challenges women face while doing business in Ghana”.
She added that the summit which is expected to take place from 4th to 5th June 2018 aims at finding innovative ways of accelerating the pace of women entrepreneurs, among others.
NBSSI will host the GWES 2018 bringing key stakeholders and international partners together to define actions in the public and private sector to create an enabling environment for women owned businesses, highlight effective approaches taken across the world to resolve constraints and challenges, and to spearhead partnerships to accelerate growth and strengthen WBEs contribution to the economy, Ms Yankey emphasised.
She observed: “As the apex governmental body for the promotion and development of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the NBSSI established the Women Entrepreneurship Development Department (WEDD) with the aim to promote and develop women entrepreneurs in Ghana”.
The long-term goal is for MSMEs to maximize their contribution to the country’s economic and social development with respect to production, income distribution and employment and the closer integration of women and people in rural areas into the national economy, Ms Yankey.
A Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah who launched the GWES 2018 said the upcoming summit was in line with the Government of Ghana’s agenda of ensuring that all sections of the society are catered for in the economy.
The Director of Women Entrepreneurship Development Department of NBSSI, Madam Habiba Sumani said: “The two-day summit will bring together leaders from the government, regulatory bodies, research and academic institutions, development partners, Non-governmental Organizations, women entrepreneurs, and prospective entrepreneurs, Civil Society and the Media to find effective ways to resolve challenges and systemic constraints that prevent women’s full and equal participation, in Ghana’s economy.
Madam Sumani added that the summit would also strengthen the contribution of women in Ghana’s economy, assess the progress to date in economic empowerment of women, build sustainable networks to bring resources to women entrepreneurs, advocate for change against negative social norms that impede the progress of women, and open a new path using technology to ensure their advancement and economic liberalization.
“We are also going to use the summit to tap into the entrepreneurial skills and potential of the women entrepreneurs in the country”.
The ultimate objective of the GWES, according to her is to craft Ghana’s Call to Action on innovative ways to harness the untapped potential of women entrepreneurs contributing to job creation and economic growth.
While the specific objectives of the summit are to: develop joint gender biased public policy proposals to Government of Ghana to advance women business enterprises (WBEs); create an enabling business environment focused on empowering women business organisations to increase incomes and create jobs; demonstrate the use of technology to innovate, grow and enhance business operations; and provide a platform to share success stories and experiences, best practices and to formulate strategies to resolve challenges that face women entrepreneurs in Ghana.
Focus Group consultations will be held to clearly articulate constraints, challenges and opportunities for relevant sectors where WBEs operate across Ghana.
Targeted sectors will include: agriculture & Food Processing; technology; service industries; creative Industries; manufacturing; extractive Industries; and informal commercial traders
These sessions, according to the organisers would focus on priority issues negatively impacting WBEs in target sectors; targets of opportunity to strengthen WBEs (Training/Pitching etc.); and outline actions for the Summit.
The summit will be organized around a series of panel talks, seminars and technical working sessions tackling the constraints facing women owned business in various supply chains and approaches that have successfully impacted women entrepreneurs.
The sessions will also review best practice approaches taken by local and international partners, which serve to inform new approaches for replication in Ghana. In addition, an exhibition area will allow for women business to showcase their products.
Some of the topics to be discussed at the summit include: trade Policies required to enable and enhance the business environment; training on Business Development Services; capacity building to introduce new business tools and systems; marketing &branding; access to finance; access to markets to broaden the customer base; and business networking organisations.
Furthermore, the summit also aims to mobilise resources and create partnerships to accelerate the promotion, growth and development of women entrepreneurs in the West African second largest economy.
The success of this initiative requires a shared commitment and partnership of key stakeholders. To this end, the NBSSI executive director and her team are positioned to work with stakeholders in the public and private sector to address a number of these drivers to lead and effect change, by implementing the right policies to promote the inclusive growth and women’s economic empowerment and by improving public sector practices in employment and procurement.
From these key stakeholders, they aim to identify Drivers of Change to be addressed and actions to enable women entrepreneurs in ways that are tangible, measurable and effective.
As noted in the Call to Action, the work to build women’s economic empowerment seeks to ‘leave no one behind’, particularly the most marginalized informal sector women at the base of the pyramid.
The expected outcomes of the summit will include to create a platform for connecting women entrepreneurs and providing information, mentoring, training, and support services; increased engagement of WBEs, connect the women owned businesses to markets; and improved connections created among women entrepreneurs.
All these are also expected to increase the contribution of Ghanaian women entrepreneurs in job creation and economic growth; increased exposure for women entrepreneurs for marketing and networking; and enhance women entrepreneurs’ knowledge.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
