The government has issued a direct call for coordinated investment in women-led businesses, warning that structural barriers are turning resilience into fatigue and holding back a segment of the economy that anchors millions of livelihoods.
The message came from Trade Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare at the Women Investment Summit Africa (WISA) 2026, held at the British Council in Accra on March 30, where she delivered an address on behalf of Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang.
Speaking under the summit’s theme of “Give to Gain,” the minister underscored that women entrepreneurs remain systematically under-supported despite accounting for approximately 44 percent of all Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana. She identified limited access to finance, exclusion from supply chains, restricted pathways to export markets, asset ownership gaps, and gender bias as the core structural constraints.
“Without the right support, it leads to fatigue rather than growth,” she said, framing the issue as a risk to long-term national prosperity if left unaddressed.
A central policy instrument is the planned Women’s Development Bank (WDB), which the government has described as a vehicle to provide collateral-free concessional loans, credit guarantees, financial literacy services, and rural economic outreach for entrepreneurs at the base of the pyramid. The 2026 national budget allocated GH¢401 million toward the bank’s establishment, building on an earlier GH¢51 million seed fund committed in 2025. The bank is expected to expand lending across all 16 regions once fully operational.
Beyond the bank, the government outlined broader priorities including unlocking patient and scalable capital for women-owned ventures, integrating women into national supply chains, and expanding their access to cross-border trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Private sector voices at the summit reinforced the urgency. Odelia Ntiamoah, Chief Executive Officer of the Oxford Africa Women Leadership Institute (OAWLI), which organised the event, called for catalytic funding mechanisms and closer partnerships to help women-led businesses grow beyond survival into genuine scale.
The summit brought together women entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders, and policymakers from across Africa.
