Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Alan Kyerematen and Kosi Yankey-Ayeh unvieling the logo
President Akufo-Addo has praised Ghanaian women entrepreneurs, asserting that they have been the cornerstone of Ghana’s development and the strategic partners in the quest to deliver socio-economic development to the good people of Ghana.
“Collectively, we acknowledge now more than ever that empowerment of women-owned businesses is no longer an academic debate, but a reality we have to face and confront, if we are serious about the economic development of our country,” he said.
In a speech read on his behalf by Minister of Communications and Digitalisation at the third biennial Ghana Women Entrepreneurship Summit (GWE Summit) and launch of Women Entrepreneurs Rise Network (WERise) in Accra yesterday, the President stated that countless women entrepreneurs had educated and raised generations of leaders in all sectors of Ghana’s economy.
He was delivering a keynote address on the theme: “Breaking Barriers and Accelerating Women-Own Businesses” which he described as apt, reflecting trendy topics of gender equality and getting more women into leadership roles.
President Akufo-Addo said the theme also reflected the strategic roles women entrepreneurs have played to ensure the country’s economic recovery from the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“From local manufacturing of PPE to sanitisers, they stepped up and helped us beat the pandemic. Public perception and history propose that running a business should naturally be the field of women,” he indicated.
He, however, noted that data from the 2020 Mastercard index for women entrepreneurs ranked Ghana currently as the third leading economy having the most women entrepreneurs, following Botswana and Uganda.
“Countless market women, peasant farmers, bakers, kenkey sellers, yam, maize and other food stuffs vendors, chop bar operators, cottage industrialists from gari processors, oil palm producers, soap makers, fishmongers, shea nut processors, etc have educated and raised generations of leaders in all sectors of our economy,” he stressed.
He asserted that “if you economically empower a man, you empower an individual. But if you economically empower a woman, you empower a family, a community, and a nation.”
“The world has belatedly recognised that promoting the economic welfare of women enhances the integrity and dignity of all humanity,” he posited.
For him, this is clearly espoused in the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
The President said in most parts of the world, the realisation has now dawned, and that the genuine and determined efforts to make women equal participants in the economic and political life are a necessity for progress and development.
“Government of Ghana is therefore determined to achieve SDG Goal 5 in its entirety by implementing policies that empower women, particularly women entrepreneurs,” he pledged.
Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said the WERise programme is building upon all the success of the past and providing a vehicle to sustainably support women entrepreneurs beyond the discussions to actions, “for the women by the women.”
“Today, we have assembled here to support each other’s rise for one cannot rise alone. We need a critical mass to rise together. As I sat to write my opening remarks, Maya Angelous’ poem ‘Still I Rise’ came to mind, so kindly allow me to title this speech ‘Still We Rise and Together We Shall Continue To Rise’,” she stated.
According to her, women make up over 50% of the population, while 46% of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are owned by women, contributing substantially to the Ghanaian GDP.
She said Ghanaian women are an important force in the economy, noting that the percentage of Ghanaian women who are economically active is almost equal with that of men, but women tend to be concentrated in less lucrative, informal and insecure occupations.
“For women, especially in developing countries, entrepreneurship is one of the key vehicles for empowerment. The World Bank estimates that in 155 out of 173 economies, at least one gender-based legal restriction exists on women’s employment and entrepreneurship,” she indicated.
She said this, as a result, has increased feminisation of poverty, pervasive gender disparities in wealth and income from work, which includes both paid employment and self-employment and women entrepreneurship.
The GEA boss mentioned that major areas of gender inequalities in the economy include women’s predominance in the informal economy, and added that 70% of women workers are employed or self-employed in informal jobs, which are insecure, unprotected and poorly paid.
“It is time to act. It is time we rose,” she emphasised, and continued that “At our first summit, we engaged over 800 participants and then COVID-19 hit. As we planned this programme, over 800+ applied, however due to COVID we could not bring everyone here today.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu