Angela Mensah-Poku addressing the conference in a panel discussion
The Chief Enterprise Business Officer of MTN Ghana, Angela Mensah-Poku, has underscored the country’s position at the forefront of female-led businesses and entrepreneurship in Africa, noting that Ghana has the fastest-growing number of female entrepreneurs on the continent.
“If we look at entrepreneurialism in Ghana, we are leading the way for Africa. If you look at the fastest-growing number of entrepreneurs on the continent, they reside in Ghana; they’re female entrepreneurs. This is fantastic. Forty-four percent of all micro and small SME businesses are female-led; this, too, is fantastic. Now, where this becomes interesting is that 80% of all informal businesses are female-led,” she said.
Speaking at the SHE Builds Conference in Accra yesterday, Ms. Mensah-Poku explained that the dominance of women in the informal sector is linked to their perception of formalising businesses as technical and restrictive.
This, she noted, denies them access to large capital compared to their male counterparts.
“There is a need to fix those fundamental issues. Today, if you go to a bank and ask for a loan, they’ll ask you to fill out forms. They’ll ask: Are you registered? Do you have real assets? And the answer is no. There’s nothing wrong with not being formalized. it’s not by force. But if you want to grow and scale, you have to attract capital and funding, and unfortunately, that requires formalisation,” she said.
She also underscored the importance of training women entrepreneurs with digital tools to boost the 44% participation rate, while stressing that low confidence remains a key barrier.
“We’re not seeing this high percentage of informal female entrepreneurs move to the next level and into corporate because of confidence. Many ask their husbands to register their mobile phones. This becomes a problem when they want to use mobile money, as it is in their husband’s name,” she lamented.
Mensah-Poku added that MTN Ghana has partnered with banks and stakeholders to expand funding access for women.
“We’ve got affordable mobile data and services for female businesses and entrepreneurs. All of these initiatives are designed to support female entrepreneurs where formal infrastructure may be lacking,” she stated.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke