The Girls to Women Foundation, a non governmental organization working to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls has trained market women from the major markets in Tamale on Financial Literacy and Business Management under their project titled “Financial Freedom For The Informal Sector Women”.
With funding support from the African Women Development Fund (AWDF), a total of eighty (80) women trading in grains and cereals, shea butter, clothing among others received the training to mark this year’s International Women’s Day celebration.
Hajia Mariam Iddrisu, Founder and Executive Director of Girls to Women Foundation, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the training last Friday, March 8, 2024, said women in the informal sector have always been left out in the annual celebration.
“Over the years of celebrating women, the day simply wants to recognize, appreciate and honor women for their achievements in society.”
She added however that, “You would see that most often we celebrate women coming from the formal sector, educated women coming together to deliberate on topics on how to bridge gender inequality, on how to make the society equitable for men and women but we [at Girls to women foundation] with funding from the AWDF choose to celebrate market women”.
She indicated the beneficiaries were selected from the Tamale Central and Aboabo markets in the northern regional capital to enhance their skills on financial literacy and business management.
Hajia Mariam intimated it is very common to see a woman managing a small or microbusiness and in no time the business collapses.
“Probably, they don’t know how to go about the business, they’re not discipline about their expenditure, they don’t know how to borrow, they don’t know how to save and invest but after this training, I’m positive that all the over 80 sampled women are well equipped on how to start a business, how to manage it and sustain it for survival” she stated.
Each of the 80 market women were given half piece of GTP cloth in honour of their contribution to Ghana’s economy.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Clinton Group of Companies, Mr. Alhassan Mohammed Gbangba Clinton, after interacting with the participants said the training was an opportunity for knowledge sharing on financial advocacy and business management and sustainability.
“…I did business management together with them and it was interactive and then we advised the women on how to start a business, how to sustain the business and even how to go on retirement, that is succession planning. We were able to cover some other important areas” he emphasised.
Hajia Fati Musah, a former Manager of the Agriculture Development Bank(ADB) in Tamale highlighted the significance of money management and savings in the daily transactions of every business person.
She said, “We tried to let them know that it is very important to do savings. Go to the bank no matter how much, no matter small the amount is; be it 50cedis you can open an account and put in your daily sales and do your withdrawals and the bank can even look at your transactions, we call it your turnovers and through that we can assist you and give you a whole advice that cam keep the business going on”.
The banker further advised the women to be confident in their various fields of endeavors and not allow societal issues to demean them or deter them from whatever they’re doing.
The 2024 International Women’s Day was held globally on the theme: Invest in Women; Accelerate Progress.
