Women entrepreneurs advised to be creative
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Homefoods Processing and Cannery Limited, Ms Felicia Twumasi, has advised women entrepreneurs in Ghana to introduce creativity and innovativeness into their businesses to help them succeed.
She acknowledged the significance of many young Ghanaian women making an effort to acquire entrepreneurial skills, but said in addition to the acquisition of such skills, they needed to be creative and innovative to help them progress in the competitive business world.
Ms Twumasi gave the advice when she delivered an address at a memorial lecture in honour of the late politician, Hawa Yakubu, in Accra last Tuesday.
The lecture, which was organised by the Network of Women in Growth (NEWIG) Ghana was on the theme, 'Re-Engineering women's entrepreneurial skills: A tool for accelerated development.'
The event, which brought together government officials, institutional heads, students from both senior high schools and tertiary institutions across the country, was held to mark the 10th Anniversary of NEWIG.
About Hawa Yakubu
Affectionately called the ‘Iron Lady’, the late Madam Hawa Yakubu, a former Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and Minister of Tourism in 2001, who was also a member of the Network of African Women in Politics (NAWIP) and Network for Women in Growth (NEWIG), died in London in 2007.
Ms Twumasi said women needed to know the status of their businesses in order to create value. She,therefore, tasked them to use their intellectual capital to create other products to sell and also be abreast of the use of information technology (IT).
She reminded the women that the essence of business was not just to make profit and compete with others, but to ensure that the community benefited from what was being done.
"Be passionate and dedicated in whatever you do in order to succeed,” she added.
Women empowerment
The Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, H. E Ms Joanna Adamson, said empowering women was crucial to the development of the country.
Women empowerment, she said, was a proven and necessary tool for advancing development and reducing poverty.
She noted that improving the entrepreneurship skills of women would help develop the country, adding that “Women are the backbone of every country”.
Implement the laws
A former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, said the answer to the country's socio-economic development was to give women the opportunity and the needed support.
She said to empower women for development through the establishment of their own businesses, women needed to build their confidence so as to view themselves as partners to their male counterparts.
She indicated that there were laws which gave women the mandate to own businesses and called for those laws to be implemented to push women economically.
The wife of the running mate to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2016 Presidential candidate, Mrs Samira Bawumia, who was the Guest of honour, said “we need leadership that will encourage young women entrepreneurs to succeed.”
NEWIG perspective
The Executive Director of NEWIG, Mrs Mawusi Nudekor Awity, said it was important to celebrate women who had impacted positively on the lives of their counterparts in the country.
She described the late Madam Yakubu as a great and selfless woman who contributed to the empowerment of women in Ghana, adding that NEWIG would organise a lecture every year in her honour.
