Oxford Africa Women Leadership Institute (OAWLI), an Enterprise Support Organisation, has urged government to improve the export readiness of women-led Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to promote Ghana’s exports.
This would deliberately promote exports in Ghana to improve the balance of payment and the country’s over reliance on oil revenue, and to find clearly the businesses which are export ready, what they require to export and deliver support to the country.
In a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said 92 per cent of women businesses in Ghana had never exported.
From the report, 31 out of 368 respondents has exported, 13 out of the 31 had no export certificates, nine has certificates from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, indicating that, close to 50 per cent of those who had exported before sent their items through family and friends, while 92 per cent have no export experience.
The statement said, only 20 per cent were aware, while 78 per cent were not remotely aware of the required certifications with 6 per cent unsure if they knew about the required certificates or not.
Through the data collected, it was proven that 58 per cent with no export experience were aware of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), 39 per cent had no idea about it with roughly 3 per cent being unsure of what AfCFTA actually is.
The statement said there would be the need for some level of stratification to find clearly who is export ready, what they require to actually export and deliver support from there as part of efforts to generate revenue for the State.
“Looking at the fact that the SME sector of the economy contributed majorly to economic activities and women forming more than 44 per cent of the population, women owned businesses will require the needed support,” it said.
It said though there were government efforts, it would take the female-led businesses to personally seek the required information to be export ready.
There would be the need to support with export certification from Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD), Food and Drug Authority (FDA) and Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) since more than 90 per cent of the respondents had no export certification.
It advised government to support women-led businesses with technology to understand the need for digital marketing, recommending social media as the best platform for digital advertising.
Source: GNA
