Accra - The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), in partnership with the GIZ Trade Hub, will host the GNCCI Women's Conference 2023 in Accra on November 15. The conference aims to educate women-led and women-owned businesses about the protocols and implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and to discuss challenges faced by women in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector.
According to Ghana News Agency, supported by the GIZ Trade Hub, the conference is themed 'Making AfCFTA Work Through A Deliberate Inclusion Of Women.' It will focus on exploring opportunities presented by AfCFTA for women entrepreneurs, understanding their challenges in trading under the Agreement, and presenting policy recommendations for Ghana's contribution to Agreement Protocols on Women and Youth. A statement issued in Accra by Madam Grace Akosua Dzeble, Head of Marketing, GNCCI, highlighted the conference's objective to address challenges faced by women entrepreneurs within the AfCFTA context.
The African Union's Report on 'Unlocking the Potential of African Women to Grow their Enterprises' emphasizes the persistent challenges women face in business, including unequal access to education, production resources, and trade facilities. Despite these challenges, women form about 44 percent of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprise sector in Ghana, as per a World Bank report. 2022 research by CUTS International revealed that women are often the most uninformed about the details and benefits of AfCFTA.
In the past three years, the GNCCI has led various national programs to prepare Ghanaian businesses for the AfCFTA. Recognizing the need for focused support for women-led businesses, the GNCCI Women's Conference is being organized with support from GIZ.