Our women role models: Inspiring many more to rise

Last Tuesday, the First National Bank Ghana announced the appointment of Sylvia Inkoom as incoming Chief Executive Officer, whose tenure will take effect on July 1, 2026, delivering another high office for women in the country (read Page 20 of yesterday’s issue).

Ms Inkoom, according to the financial institution, brings into her new role 21 years of extensive experience in banking, notably in relationship management, treasury, global markets, finance and structured deals. She succeeds Warren Adams as she assumes a new role within the broader FirstRand Group.

Her appointment, although subject to Bank of Ghana approval, has come to highlight the rising profile of women in national affairs and the corporate environment.

For professionals like her, it reinforces the coming of age of women achievers and leaders, their rise to the commanding heights of responsibility, and the ability to compete in a fair environment.

Until her new appointment, Ms Inkoom had served as the Executive Director and Head of Corporate and Investment Banking of the institution, and was said to be integral in deepening client relationships across First National Bank’s broad range of corporate and investment banking capabilities.

But beyond the pleasing recognition of a progressive attainment of affirmative action, Ms Inkoom’s credentials speak of the adherence to meritocracy in her choice as the new CEO.

She, however, only follows in the stead of predecessor women CEOs of major banking institutions in the country, such as Dr Naomi Wolali Kwetey at Consolidated Bank Ghana; Mansa Nettey of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC, who is the first female CEO of the 120-year history of the bank in Ghana; Roosevelt Ogbonna of Access Bank PLC, and Abena Osei-Poku of Ecobank Ghana.

This is how far women have come in occupying important positions in different spheres of life in the country.

In Vice-President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Ghana produced the first female Vice-Chancellor of a local public university, who broke the glass ceiling for the current Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, and the Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, to follow in her steps.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang herself achieved another first for women as she rose to her current position at the 2024 elections.

These impressive numbers of quality women reaching dizzy heights of their respective professional careers are an inspiring attainment of what the affirmative action concept seeks to achieve.

Affirmative action is a policy designed to increase education and workplace opportunities for underrepresented or historically discriminated groups.

It acts as a corrective measure to boost diversity by favouring qualified candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Key examples include targeted and conscious admissions to tertiary institutions, job hiring, and public contract opportunities.

While these are deliberate measures intended to balance the scale of representation between the genders, affirmative action has been on a slow ride to the intended destination.

For a country that has championed this path since the 1995 Beijing Conference on women's empowerment, the strides have been slower than expected.

Yet, positives such as the passage of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024 (Act 1121), are a remarkable effort towards the desired goal.

This Act mandates progressive gender equality in public and private sectors to address historical imbalances, requiring also a minimum of 30 per cent female representation in key decision-making positions by 2026, and targeting 50 per cent by 2034.

These targets apply to both public institutions and private entities.

It will take some effort to count the numbers.

However, Ms Inkoom’s new portfolio suggests that it is not merely about numbers, but about quality and merit.

For now, indeed, Ghana is not short on women role models who could inspire the next generation into corporate and governance leadership. 

For others, such as the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Authority, Prof. Nana Ama Brown-Klutse, once the ­­­­Head of the Physics Department of the University of Ghana, have proved their mettle and merit to draw celebration of women.

We cannot help but join the chorus to sing their praises.

We salute the women role models!