Amadu Kamil Sanah
Accra, Aug. 21, GNA – Densu Associates, a purpose-driven organization based in Africa and North America in partnership with Mastercard Foundation has organized a stakeholders’ engagement meeting to assess the needs and priority areas that will create an enabling environment for the success of social entrepreneurs in Ghana.
The engagement is part of the implementation of its Social Enterprise Accelerator (SEA) Programme.
The Social Enterprise Accelerator programme, according to the Executive Director of Densu Associates, Madam Dolores Dickson, is dynamically designed to support young women leading social enterprises and social enterprises focusing on women.
Speaking at the engagement meeting held in Accra, Madam Dolores Dickson emphasized that the SEA programme also seeks to create a robust ecosystem for social entrepreneurs, particularly women to thrive.
“Social enterprises play a critical role in addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. In Ghana, there are approximately 115,500 social enterprises, many of which are micro and small enterprises and face barriers such as difficulties in obtaining funding, lack of access to advisory services, and limited technical skills,” Madam Dickson explained.
She said the SEA programme was at the pilot phase and will comprehensively tackle the identified challenges by providing tailored support to enable social enterprises to expand their reach, attract new clients, create jobs, and secure investments.
“This programme has two primary objectives: Provide Tailored Support to Social Entrepreneurs: This initiative will provide financial support and 12 months of tailored comprehensive support to selected social enterprises, enabling them to grow into sustainable and impactful ventures.
Strengthen the Ecosystem: The programme aims to enhance Densu Associates’ capacity to drive a robust ecosystem for social entrepreneurs in Ghana, promoting a conducive environment for their growth and success.”
The stakeholder engagement meeting brought together over 50 key stakeholders including policy makers, government officials, business development service providers, social innovators and entrepreneurs and financial institutions and investors, all within the social entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Madam Dolores Dickson revealed that the SEA programme was informed by a recent nationwide study by Densu Associates which highlighted the strong desire among young people in Ghana for work that positively impacts society.
“Over the next three years, we expect the participating social enterprises to expand their reach, ultimately impacting over 1,200 individuals”, she said.
She said that it was the priority of her organization to build the capacity of more women, provide them with the right support to become leaders of the social enterprise sector in Ghana.
GNA