Ghanaian women are becoming very dominant in the field of entrepreneurship and contributing strongly to the economic development of the country, however, due to certain factors, women’s achievements are not as noticed as that of men.
Sylvia Tweneboah Koduah, President of Women in Entrepreneurship, Ghana, outlined during an interview on eTV Ghana with host, Mercy Bee during the ‘Girl Vibes’ show some of these factors that keep women from reaching deserved heights and even from revealing their many successes.
Before going ahead to name these factors, she observed that women are very dominant and they are not intimidated. “Women are very strong, powerful, grateful and strong-willed. They have what it takes to do it but we should remember that women have challenges in business”.
The first challenge, according to Sylvia that a woman is likely to encounter in entrepreneurship is with the acquisition of funds. “Imagine a woman with a very great business idea going to a bank for a loan and they tell her that this idea is too crazy for a woman to handle so they won’t give her the loan but if a man presents the same business idea, they will give him the loan”, she charged.
She continued that also for women, no matter what entrepreneurial goals they follow and yearn to achieve, they still have the responsibility of being a mother and a wife, hence combining these two with entrepreneurship is sometimes a challenge for some women.
“The third thing is fear. Women have that fear of failing in male-dominated fields. Women are also very scared to show their accomplishments or successes. We don’t want to stand by it because we think people will say that we’re proud and all that”, she continued.
Sylvia commented in accordance with this that, humility is not about being shy or timid, hence women should stick out and stand behind their successes so that women in entrepreneurship can be noticed and appreciated even more.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye