It’s Christmas time and the stockings of women entrepreneurs in Ghana could soon get filled with welfare-driven plans in the making. This year Santa Claus has incarnated as “GEPA” (Ghana Export Promotion Authority) essentially for women entrepreneurs. The Authority plans to boost women empowerment in business by way of tailor-made SOPs through its National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) program.
According to Mastercard Index of Women’s Entrepreneurship (MIWE), women in Ghana have made wholesome contributions to commerce and have enabled the country to be the one producing the highest number of women entrepreneurs. Women are playing a significant role in mobilizing the export of Ghana’s natural products that majorly comprise gold, cocoa, coconuts, brazil and cashew nuts. These products have made their presence mostly in India, Switzerland, China, South Africa and UAE.
Estimations indicate that 46.4% of women in Ghana own almost half of all businesses across the country. Here it’s noteworthy that far from being a cakewalk, the journey of women in the business segment has been like that of a trekker in a treacherous terrain braving arduous socio-economic challenges.
Given this fact, GEPA would map out the gender roles and relations along the value change to thwart gender equality and do away with gender related constraints. The Authority is set to institutionalize the procurement and management of statistical data through analysis for enterprises owned by women. The Authority pledges to operate in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal Five which urges countries to create equal opportunities across genders by 2030 and foster economic growth.
Thus it will be a matter of pride for Ghana which means “Warrior King” in the Soninke language, to attribute due regards to the efforts of its indomitable “Queens” as well.
