By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Accra, Nov. 27, GNA – Mrs Marian Ofori Twumasi, Chief Executive Officer, Mariseth Farms, has won the Guzakusa 2024 African Agribusiness Woman of the Year award for her stellar contribution to promoting Agribusiness and creating jobs.
She has cultivated 400 acres of oil palm plantation, 300 acres of soya beans, 300 acres of maize, 200 acres of yam, 100 acres of cocoa, 60,000 catfish, 50 beehives, 300 rabbits, 100 ducks and geese and has a state-of-the-art oil palm processing plant.
The awards ceremony, which is the third edition, was organised by Guzakusa, an organisation dedicated to empowering women in agribusiness throughout Africa.
Blazing the trail amongst five outstanding women for the ultimate award in Accra, Mrs Ofori Twumasi is said to have also expanded the frontier of agribusiness advocacy, mentored women in the agribusiness industry and trained a lot of youth.
In her victory remarks, she said agriculture and agribusinesses had many potentials to grow Ghana and make it a developed country, adding that all awardees, nominees, women, public and the government must work and ensure food security.
She said the cultivation of the agriculture products was important but the value addition to meet international standards would be the catalyst to attain rapid socio-economic growth.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the young entrepreneur said government must make women and the youth an integral part of agriculture polices and decision making so that they could offer their indigenous and modern agriculture skill sets and ideas.
She said access to finance and land in most businesses, particularly agricultural production and agribusinesses had been a challenge for women, which had not been addressed adequately.
“Women should be empowered financially to expand our businesses. When the government invests in women-led businesses, the standard of living of households improves. Government must create opportunities in agriculture and agribusiness for the youth to attain socioeconomic freedom. Youth unemployment is a threat, and we need to put the youth into gainful employment,” she said.
Mrs Ofori Twumasi said the communities that gave her the land had been benefiting from her work as she had employed their indigenes and also shared the profit with her per their arrangements.
She urged the youth to start their businesses with the little they had, continue to save towards their ventures, link up and collaborate with communities, land owners, chiefs and government agencies for any technical, financial and coaching services.
“I started my business as a National Service Personnel. I later worked with Prime Insurance, and I was still in agribusiness and saving money towards it. I started with the resources I had. Financing businesses in Ghana is difficult but if you work with the little you have and you are successful, banks and other financial institutions will be chasing you,” the CEO said.
Nana Adjoa Sifa Amponsh, Initiator and Lead of Guzakusa, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), urged the women to keep promoting their businesses, adding that those who didn’t win anything should not be disappointed but see the opportunity as a platform to network, exchange ideas and choose role models for training and mentorship.
“My advice to these women in the agribusiness value chain is that there is no short cut to success. They needed to build their capacity, learn on the job by engaging coaches and mentors,” she said.
GNA