Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi, the Second Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), has called on stakeholders within the business sector to join forces with the Central Bank to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on women-owned businesses.
Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi indicated that the Bank of Ghana believes in inclusive and resilient financial system and economy, saying that it is because “it works for all of us as a nation, and as stakeholders, we should make growth a shared agenda. We need to help develop a more sustainable financial economy by encouraging women to bring their capacities to bear.”
“These were because a higher percentage of women were in the informal sector and MSMEs, as compared to men. Many women businesses have still not resurrected from the effect of COVID-19.”
Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi
Mrs Awadzi made the call at a national policy dialogue organised by the Network for Women’s Rights Ghana (NETRIGHT) in Accra on the theme ‘Gendered COVID-19, Impacts on Women Owned Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and Women’s Financial Inclusion in a Digital Economy.’
The dialogue assessed the challenges women face in the MSMEs sector such as: difficulty in accessing loans, lands, and permits to set up businesses. According to the Second Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, other challenges that women owned businesses faced during the COVID-19 lockdown include: increased household responsibilities for women like childcare; home schooling; caring for the sick and aged parents; slow trading in non-perishable and non-food good; and gradual erosion of working capital.
The BoG Second Deputy Governor noted that according to a World Bank report, women worldwide are nine per cent less likely to have an account with a financial institution or mobile banking than men, and lagged in accessing financial services such as loans. As such, she stated that making technology, financial services, and management capacities accessible to them, inure to the benefit of their entire family, society, and nation at large.
“When women manage businesses, children eat healthy meal, go to school, and get healthcare among others. It by extension, benefits the whole nation.”
Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi
Government’s COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Programme
Mrs Awadzi observed that government’s COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Programme introduced to support Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises affected by the COVID-19, benefitted more men than women, “as it was not gender specific and created gaps in accessing loans.”
The Second Deputy Governor of Bank of Ghana, thus, advised women in business to leverage on opportunities in the digital economy to grow their businesses.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in a statement read on his behalf, underscored the need to leverage the digital economy for business promotion and growth. He suggested that Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), must work with data platform service providers and encourage its members to procure Ghana cards to help them in their businesses.
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