Beyond empowerment: Activating women’s economic opportunities in Ghana and Pakistan

Despite the more than 3 500 miles that separate Ghana and Pakistan, GOPA is fostering women’s entrepreneurship in the health and agribusiness sectors in both countries through multisector engagement and customised training programmes. 

In Ghana, 38% of micro-, small- and medium enterprises are female-owned, one of the highest proportions in the world according to the 2021 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs. In Pakistan, the situation is quite different, with only 1% of women being entrepreneurs, compared to 21% of men. In both countries, however, limited access to financing, training, and resources pose significant challenges for women wanting or needing to start a business. 

GOPA is one of many companies and organisations working to bridge this gap by providing tailored support and training programmes to help women succeed in their entrepreneurial endeavours. Through initiatives like the “Access Bank Womenpreneur Pitch-A-Ton Competition” in Ghana and the “Self-Employment of Women (SEW) in the Private Health Sector” project in Pakistan, women are gaining access to the necessary resources and skills to build sustainable businesses in sectors vital to economic development in their respective countries.

The Pitch-A-Ton Competition culminated in the 50 women entrepreneur participants of the Business Management Bootcamp pitching their companies at Access Bank Ghana Headquarters in January 2024. Pitches primarily comprised agribusiness ventures, the most impressive of which received cash and in-kind prizes to further support their development. This year marks the second time that GOPA has helped implement this programme, supporting Access Bank in the provision of over USD 23 000 in grants and prizes to more than 100 Ghanaian women business owners.  

In Pakistan, GOPA is helping implement the SEW project, which is financed by the German state-owned investment and development bank KfW. The project will provide unemployed community midwives and women’s health workers with opportunities to own and run 400 private clinics, thus helping to fill an important employment gap while providing much-needed reproductive health and family planning services in two provinces in northern Pakistan. 

In addition to promoting access to finance and resources, both projects seek to go beyond empowering women and towards an action-oriented activation of their economic endeavours through highly targeted capacity building. In Pakistan, GOPA draws from international best practices in healthcare supervision, mentoring and coaching to build e-learning modules aimed at improving the provision of women's health services, streamlining clinic operations, and building entrepreneurial skills. In Ghana, GOPA, in cooperation with the GIZ-funded AgriBiz programme, developed a four-week ‘bootcamp’ that drew from various types of learning approaches to train participants in business skills ranging from supply chain management to record keeping, and from digital marketing to staff management. 

Alongside financial and in-kind support, these GOPA-provided trainings will not only allow participants to successfully start and run their businesses, but will help ensure the long-term success of their endeavours and of the rest of their careers. In doing so, these efforts help improve women's financial independence and agency to drive more inclusive and equitable economic growth. 

(Originally published 8 March 2024. Updates have been made to reflect current branding.)