By Dorothy Kumah Yeboah
An NGO, Network for Women Rights in Ghana, NETRIGHT has urged policymakers to involve women in decision making especially in the financial sector to help them contribute to policy formulation that will be beneficial to their businesses.
At a forum in Accra, the convener Professor Akosua Darkwah noted that empowering women for economic change will not only accelerate the growth of women owned – businesses but also increase productivity.
This she believes will propel the country’s drive achieving sustainable debt management and socio-economic stability. Given the current economic situation and the accompanying IMF conditionalities, the private sector continues to face numerous challenges including increased taxation.
This the Convener of NETRIGHT Professor Akosua Darkwah indicates has become burdensome for Women-owned businesses. She said debt restructuring should be scrutinized thoroughly to especially help those in the rural areas.
Professor Darkwah called on the government to support women entrepreneurs by making the accessibility of funds less stressful. Adding her voice, Head of Marketing at Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Grace Akosua Dzeble acknowledged the contribution of the informal sector to GDP. She added that”Ghana is an icon of Africa and if we help the private sector to grow, we will be able to access the African Market “.
She suggested a government policy where at least one hundred businesses will be supported financially while putting in place structures of assessing the businesses’ impact and how the monies will be recouped after a year, to be reinvested into another set of business ventures. ” This will help boost the sector”.
The forum explored the economic situation and advocated gender-transformative social policies to address these challenges.
