The Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund has affirmed its commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs in the country,inviting them to "apply for support" from the Fund.
At a roundtable meeting organised by the National Board for Small Scale Industries(NBSSI) last week,the Fund manager of the programme Mr Nicholas Gebara announced his outfit's keen interest "to help women associations" to grow their business.
"As a Business Fund, the BUSAC Fund is keen to help women associations facilitate dialogue between their members and relevant public sector players to come up with innovative solutions to provide a conducive and profitable business environment for their business to strive," he said.
"We believe that improving women entrepreneurs in their access to markets is key to sustainability of their business and the future of the private sector in General."
According to a 2018 forbes report on female entrepreneur challenges, the ranks of female entrepreneurs and female-owned businesses are on the rise.
The 2018 Mastercard Index of Women’s Entrepreneurship (MIWE), also revealed that 46.4 percent of businesses in Ghana are owned by women, making it one of the top performing African countries.
But findings by the NBSSI indicate that far fewer women’s businesses are engaged in international trade than businesses owned by men,resulting in the calls for more support for women entrepreneurs.
Last Tuesday's roundtable meeting was aimed at enhancing access to market for women entrepreneurs in the country.
The half-day event held at the Fiesta Royale Hotel in Accra, brought together women entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, business experts, media, investors and government agencies to foster women's empowerment to achieve market growth.
Mr Nicholas Gabera
According to Mr Gebara, organising such meetings will help women associations to dialogue and come up with innovative solutions that will ensure their survival in the business world.
"The BUSAC Fund is very pleased to pledge its support to the NBSSI in organizing this roundatable discussion to deliberate on how women entrepreneurs can gain access to markets in both the local and international market, he said.
He revealed that the Fund has opened it's doors for proposals to "support advocacy issues" and urged members to apply for BUSAC's support.
"BUSAC Fund wishes to inform you that we have just launched a call for proposals for providing support to advocacy issues that aim at enhancing the business environment of the private sector.
"We encourage you to contact us and apply for support,"he added
The Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund is a programme, which aims at strengthening the advocacy capacity of private sector business groups and associations, has outlined
The Fund is a Private Sector support mechanism created and funded by DANIDA, with further support from USAID, DFID (Phase I) and the European Union (Phase II).
The BUSAC project was established in 2004 with the aim of contributing to the creation of a more enabling business environment for the development and growth of the Ghanaian private sector.
By:Fiifi Abdul Malik/ghanaguardian.com
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