4 firms partner to support women, youth entrepreneurs
Four firms have entered into a partnership deal to create an online marketplace to support women and young entrepreneurs in the country to promote their products and connect with customers globally.
The firms, the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), the Mastercard Foundation, the Plendify Inc. and Tonaton.com, are to ensure open access to both local and international markets.
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The partnership will also ensure qualified business owners benefit from capacity building in branding and digital marketing to increase their revenue, while unlocking sustainable job opportunities for young Ghanaians.
The partnership
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GEA, Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, who signed a joint statement by the four firms, observed that the partnership was expected to bring together decades of experience to help youth and women owned enterprises benefit from global e-commerce and digital marketing opportunities.
“It is important to note that the digital space is expanding rapidly, bringing with it an increasing need to develop initiatives that allow women and young entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses and also access new markets.
“That is why we are excited about this partnership and we hope more organisations will come on board to support women and youth-owned Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to scale their operations,” he said.
The initiative falls directly under the MSME Business Acceleration (MBA) component of the multi-year Mastercard Foundation and GEA Young Africa Works Project.
It is aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs with brand building, business promotion and access to new markets.
The online shop themed “Made-in-Ghana Concept Shop” will host and market products from targeted MSMEs.
The initiative follows categories such as Ghanaian-owned/led businesses, women-owned/led businesses, businesses with a minimum of five employees (both permanent and casual), start-ups owned by women and unique product offerings.
Increasingly digitised world
The Regional Director in charge of West, Central and Northern Africa, Mastercard Foundation, Mr Nathalie Akon Gabala, said in an increasingly digitised world, enabling access to digital market platforms for women and young entrepreneurs will help accelerate their growth.
He said it would also build their capacity to take advantage of global opportunities as they rebuild their businesses.
In March 2021,the GEA announced a similar initiative with the Lokko House Limited to support women-owned MSMEs market their products via an online marketplace.
The platform continues to build traction and onboard women entrepreneurs across the country.
The project
The GEA/Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works Project is an entrepreneurship development and employment programme targeted at young people, particularly young women in Ghana.
The project ,therefore, falls under the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Program (YEEP) of the GEA.
The project, is being implemented in Ghana by the GEA and will create employment and income generation opportunities for 39,000 young men and women in Ghana.
Seventy per cent of the 39,000 beneficiaries will be women. The project leverages on existing GEA flagship programmes such as the Apprenticeship to Entrepreneurship (A2E), Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Hubs and the Kaizen Programme.
These programmes are delivered through the 185 Business Advisory Centres/Business Resource Centres across the country and in collaboration with other Young Africa Works partners in the country.