Women entrepreneurs require special support
Participants in the third Graphic Business-Fidelity Bank Breakfast Meeting have called on government to pay special attention to women entrepreneurs in the country to help minimise the challenges they faced in their respective operations.
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The participants, including government officials, business executives and heads of business advocacy and promotion institutions, stressed that female entrepreneurs faced peculiar challenges in business, hence the need for special attention for them.
The call was first made by the Managing Director of MMC Properties Management, Mrs Rose-Margaret Kpodo, during the question and answer session of the meeting which focused on how the country can leverage on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to support economic development.
It was organised by Graphic Business, a brand of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), printers and publishers of the nation's leading newspapers, and sponsored by Fidelity Bank Limited, a fast-growing indigenous universal bank.
Mr Hackman Owusu-Ageyman, a former minister, chaired the function while the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ekwow Spio-Gabrah, was the special guest of honour.
Madam Kpodo observed that although women were generally known to be business-minded, petty challenges such as managing the home, raising of children and societal perceptions towards them combined with the general business challenges made it difficult for existing and aspiring female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses into big time entities.
The challenge, she said, becomes worse when it came to accessing finance, an issue that had been the bane of most businesses nationwide.
"We all know women are diligent in whatever they do but they have to compete with big time businesses and male entrepreneurs to access funds and that is a huge challenge we need to pay special attention to if we want to develop female entrepreneurship in this country," Mrs Kpodo, whose company manages the Accra Shopping Mall, said at the event.
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Her position was supported by the CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC), Mrs Mawuena Trebah, who further called on such women entrepreneurs to contact her outfit for support to help them grow their businesses.
She also entreated all business owners in the county to register with the GIPC, which is the investment promotion unit under the Office of the President, to enable them to benefit from various incentives.
The CEO of Reroy Cables and Marketing Woman of the Year, Mrs Kate Quartey Papafio, also observed that experience had shown that women could do better in business if given the needed support.
She, thus, called on the relevant institutions to lend a hand to women in business.