Policy LINK Empowers Five Women Leaders in Ghana's Agriculture Sector through Summit Sponsorship
Participants at the Women in Agribusiness Finance Summit (photo credit: Feed the Future Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture Activity).
The event featured business-to-business (B2B) sessions, which connected women-owned and women-led agribusinesses to transaction advisors to facilitate access to financing on their behalf.
As part of its efforts to strengthen women's leadership role in Ghana's agricultural sector, the Feed the Future (FtF) Ghana Policy LINK Activity sponsored five women farmer awardees to participate in the 2023 Women in Agribusiness Summit in Accra. The summit, which was held on April 17, 2023, is designed to showcase the contributions of women in the country's agricultural sector and present investment opportunities in women-led agribusinesses.
The five awardees, Yaa Ajeley, Joyce Dapaah, Ernestina Osei Tutu, Lydia Gyebi Asare, and Feruza Alidu, were among the first cohort of 20 best women awardees recognized at the 2022 National Farmers Day event. They had earlier benefited from Policy LINK's five-day capacity training workshop on leadership and policy advocacy, accounting and records keeping, and access to finance.
The support provided to the awardees to attend the summit is in line with Policy LINK's post-capacity training activities aimed at further strengthening their knowledge and skills while expanding their networks. This will aid them in representing and championing women's interests in agriculture, thereby contributing to the achievement of Policy LINK's inclusivity goal.
The summit, hosted by the FtF Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity, was held under the theme, “Empowering women in agriculture through enhanced access to finance.” The event featured business-to-business (B2B) sessions, which connected women-owned and women-led agribusinesses to transaction advisors to facilitate access to financing on their behalf. Financial institutions and investors interested in lending to these businesses were also in attendance.
Policy LINK-supported awardees engaged in a discussion with financial institutions on financing models for their businesses.
In her opening remarks, Hon. Lariba Zuweira Abudu, Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP), said that the government is committed to promoting gender equality and economic transformation for national development. She commended USAID and the FtF MFA for providing business advisory services to women-led businesses and developing financing products tailored to women.
Hon. Abudu encouraged women in agribusinesses to take advantage of the numerous interventions and flagship programs the government has instituted in the sector. She also urged them to make good use of the funds they have acquired with the help of FtF MFA to increase their productivity and ensure expansion.
Ms. Kimberly Rosen, USAID Ghana Mission Director, noted that the US government believes in promoting gender equality and recognizes women's unique role in the agriculture industry. She stated that empowering women in agribusiness is key to unlocking their full potential.
"That is why the U.S. government supports Ghanaian agribusinesses through [the] Feed the Future Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture Activity, which has unlocked nearly USD 205 million in financing for more than 33,000 agribusinesses, half of which are women-led and women-owned," she explained.
Ms. Rosen expressed hope that the summit would play a critical role in addressing the challenges women in agribusinesses face. She also believed that the discussions held during the event would go a long way to provide solutions to the future generation of women farmers.
Speaking about her experience at the summit, Madam Joyce Dapaah, the 2022 National Most Enterprising Female Cocoa Farmer, described the event as inspiring. "Meeting all these women leading various agribusinesses and seeing their drive and commitment to expanding their businesses was worth it," she remarked.
Madam Ernestina Osei Tutu contributing to the plenary discussions.
Madam Feruza Alidu, the 2022 Northern regional best agricultural innovator, was happy with the contacts she made for various transaction advisors. She was optimistic that their assistance would enable her to secure the funding to buy machinery for her farm. "What I need now is machinery to make my work easy. The current workload and its associated costs are a big challenge, so I am looking forward to working with some transaction advisors to help put my books in order to enable me to get the funding I need," she explained.
Madam Ernestina Osei Tutu, the 2022 Eastern regional best female farmer and interim leader of the 20 women awardees, expressed her gratitude to Policy LINK for its consistent efforts in creating avenues for them to network and engage with other key agriculture stakeholders.
Madam Ernestina noted that this was the second time Policy LINK had supported her in participating in stakeholder events after the capacity training she received in March. “I know some of my other colleagues have also had the chance to engage with other key agriculture stakeholders through other forums, and I must say the networks we are building will go a long way to help our cause as a group of women leaders in the agric space," she said.
While commending the summit organizers for bridging the gap between women and agribusiness, transaction advisors, financial institutions, and investors, Madam pointed out that language barriers can hinder some participants from fully benefiting from these opportunities. To address this challenge, she recommended that organizers of such events consider providing language interpretation services to participants who may not be proficient in the language of the event. They should also consider providing written materials in different languages to ensure all participants can access the information provided.
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