By Samira Larbie
Accra, Oct. 30, GNA – The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has ended the Women Entrepreneurship for Africa (WE4A) project, with a call on the Government of Ghana to support women.
The WE4A Project was aimed at empowering African women entrepreneurs, fostering economic growth, and promoting gender equality in entrepreneurship, through targeted training, financial support, and partnerships with the private sector.
It was implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Co-funded by the European Union.
The Closeout ceremony to celebrate the achievements and contributions of 40 women entrepreneurs was themed: “Capitalising on the Full Potential of Women Entrepreneurs for Employment Creation.”
The two-year project saw four beneficiaries receiving a Euro 120, 000 grant from Safeem, eight beneficiaries in the process to close deals to the tune of $2 million from pitches with local investors, and increased business management capacities.
It has also deepened the understanding of individual business modules and growth path, increased capacities on financial management, including taxation, audited accounts, and business strategy, 10 beneficiaries received equipment support totaling Euro 50.00.
Mr Gerald Guskowski, the Cluster Coordinator, Sustainable Economic Development GIZ Ghana, commended the women for having gone through the training successfully.
He said women economic empowerment remained an important issue in Africa, with women more economically active in Africa than anywhere else in the world, the International Labour Organisation World Employment and Social Outlook report 2019 has said.
He said despite the relatively stable economic growth and growing investment expenditure in Africa, employment growth rates and the quality of employment remained poor.
Mr Guskowski explained that wage and salaried workers represented only 28 per cent of the total employment in Africa with informal employment accounting for about 86 per cent of total employment in Africa, and the labour force participation rate for women in Sub-Saharan Africa was 62.5 per cent compared to 72.5 per cent for men.
He said the gender gap in the labour force participation was smaller than many other regions of the world adding that more than 70 per cent of women-owned SMEs have inadequate or no access to financial services.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, only 37 per cent of women have a bank account, compared to 48 per cent of men, a gap that has only widened over the past years with some women MSMEs facing gender-based restrictions in accessing commercial credit or owning property, hence the project,” Mr Guskowski said.
He encouraged stakeholders to continue to join hands to empower women led enterprises even after the closure of the programme to increase their economic inclusion and empowerment.
Mr John Duti, the Team Leader of the Employment for Skills, and Development in Africa (E4D), GIZ Ghana, said the 40 women were empowered to become successful businesses through comprehensive training in capacity building, bookkeeping, investor readiness among others, adding that “this forms an integral part of the larger E4D programme.
“The programme also equipped the 40 businesses with various tools to enhance their growth, these businesses have now collectively secured 217 jobs and created 103 new jobs,” Mr Duti stated.
Ms Stella Akosua Ansah, Director Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME), Ministry of Trade and Industry, speaking at the event appealed to GIZ to in future include many more women in the project to empower them to make a living for themselves and their families.
She urged women entrepreneurs to also take advantage of such opportunities when the need arises to better themselves and their businesses.
Ms Philomena Norman, the Acting Director Women Entrepreneurship Directorate, Ghana Enterprises Agency, while congratulating the beneficiaries highlighted the various projects the Agency had embarked on in collaboration with GIZ and commended the German Government for the support so far.
Ms Mariama Abubakari, beneficiary and the Founder of Simply Green, a health and wellness brand that provided good nutrition for people living with and managing chronic health conditions sharing her story expressed gratitude to GIZ for providing her with technical assistance to improve her business.
“As Africans many think that my duty as a woman is to marry and have children but I wanted more and thanks to the WE4A project my products are doing well on the market,” she added.
Ms Anaporka Adazabra, also a beneficiary and the Chief Executive Officer Farmio, an agribusiness, which specializes in greenhouse farming systems, increasing productivity and revenue for farmers was also thankful to GIZ for the support to help improve the sector.
She said due to the project her yield and business had improved over the period.
GNA