Women-owned businesses in Ghana continue to face financing and cash-flow constraints that limit their ability to fulfil large contracts, expand production and participate in industrial supply chains, highlighting the need for more responsive financial support to unlock their economic potential.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Ms Margaret Ansei, many women entrepreneurs struggle to execute large orders because buyers often operate on extended payment terms while suppliers demand immediate payment.
She said the mismatch creates working capital pressures that prevents businesses from scaling production, meeting contractual obligations and taking advantage of emerging market opportunities.
Speaking at the opening of the fifth Ghana Women Entrepreneurship Summit (GWES 2026) in Accra, she called for affordable financing, stronger institutional support and improved market access to strengthen the competitiveness of women-led enterprises.
The summit, held under the theme, “Empowering Women to Drive Trade, Innovation and Industrial Growth,” brought together government officials, financial institutions, development partners, industry leaders and women entrepreneurs to explore ways of expanding women’s participation in the economy.
Ms Ansei stressed that financial institutions and business support organisations needed to develop financing products that reflected the operational realities of women-owned businesses, particularly their working capital requirements.
She also called for stronger collaboration among public institutions, the private sector and development partners to improve market linkages and create opportunities for women entrepreneurs to expand their operations.
The Vice-President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who joined Ms Ansei at the opening, reaffirmed government’s commitment to supporting women-owned businesses through improved access to finance, business development services and expanded market opportunities.
She said women’s participation in production, agro-processing, manufacturing and industrial development was critical to Ghana’s economic transformation.
“Ghana’s economic transformation depends on increasing production, processing more of what we grow, and building stronger links between local enterprises and larger industries. Women are central to this effort,” she said.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang said the country needed to move women-owned businesses beyond small-scale operations into commercial production, manufacturing and industrial supply chains.
She emphasised the importance of creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs to establish factories, increase production capacity and compete in domestic and international markets.
The Vice-President also identified the proposed Ghana Women’s Development Bank as a key intervention to address persistent financing challenges facing women entrepreneurs and improve their access to affordable financial services.
However, she noted that access to finance alone would not be sufficient to make women-owned businesses competitive.
She said entrepreneurs also needed the technical skills, quality standards, appropriate packaging and safety compliance required to supply larger buyers, supermarkets and export markets.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang said strengthening women’s participation in productive sectors would support job creation, industrial growth and broader economic transformation.
The discussions highlighted the need to address structural barriers confronting women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), particularly limited access to working capital and markets, which continue to constrain their ability to transition into larger commercial operations.
For Ghana, improving the capacity of these enterprises could expand domestic production, strengthen local supply chains and increase the participation of women-owned businesses in trade and industrial development.
The GEA said it would continue working with stakeholders to strengthen enterprise development, improve business competitiveness, promote job creation and expand opportunities for women entrepreneurs to contribute to Ghana’s economic growth.
