India & Ghana – Business & Trade Conclave of Women Entrepreneurs

The second international trade and business conclave as part FLO’s National Initiative on ‘Empowering Women through Trade & Business’ was organised with Ghana on August 6, 2021.
FLO’s initiative ‘Empowering women through Trade & Business’ aims at creating a worldwide forum for the exchange of information, experience, visibility, and connectivity among women business owners, setting the stage for new opportunities and joint ventures among entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Under the aegis of this initiative, FLO partnered with United nations, Ghana.to organize the virtual conclave. This is a step towards building a long-term relationship with Ghana that facilitate and enhance business exchanges between women entrepreneurs from the nation.
The conclave was aimed to provide a platform for FLO members to know more about doing business and trade with Ghana, one of the major emerging economies in Africa.

FLO President, Ujjwala Singhania said “, Since its inception in 1983, FLO have been playing an active role as an enabler of women empowerment through entrepreneurship development and professional excellence. This year, I have aligned my goals towards this objective and my focus is on empowering women by facilitating an enabling environment that promotes entrepreneurship, industry participation and economic development of women.”

“India is among top five trading partners of Ghana and is largest destination for Ghanaian exports, total trade amounting to 557.17 million USD till July 2020. We envision that India and Ghana have huge potential to explore trade and investment opportunities. Our endeavour is to take this collaboration further and create the linkages between women entrepreneurs of both the countries.”, she further added.

The objectives of the virtual business conclave was to increase the awareness of policy makers of the potential of women entrepreneurs and raising awareness of related barriers that hamper their participation in international trade and increase the demand for goods and services supplied by women entrepreneurs from India and Ghana.
The conclave was addressed by Honourable Michael Okiyere Baafi, Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry of Ghana, HE Mr. Sugandh Rajaram,High Commissioner of India to Ghana, HE Mr. Sebastian Beliwine , Chargé d’Affaires of Ghana High Commission in New Delhi and Charles Abani, Resident Coordinator, Ghana.

Honourable Michael Okyere Baafi talked about commencement of the The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a free trade area founded in 2018, with trade commencing as of 1 January 2021 and said, “The socio-economic challenges from the recent Covid 19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of the role women in fostering economic. The potential of trade in increasing the participation of women in a nation’s economy, decreasing inequality and poverty and increase access to skills cannot be underestimated.”
HE Mr. Sugandh Rajaram, “During the pandemic, the global supply chain has been disrupted but the Indian entrepreneurs, but the Indian entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the cap in this regard and come forward to contribute. Indian exports to Ghana have increased despite the pandemic from 600 million USD to 850 million USD. This women entrepreneur can take advantage of the growing trade relations. We see a lot of synergy particularly in the area of agriculture, agro processing, water supply, irrigation, mining amongst others.”

HE Mr. Sebastian Beliwine talked about the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries and said, “As we continue to build on this very impressive relationship, this conclave is a positive step towards facilitating economic cooperation between the women entrepreneurs of India and Ghana. Ghana has had very steady and positive economic growth and we consider India as a very strong trade partner. Entrepreneurship can drive innovation and competition and act as a catalyst for structural transformation of an economy and reduction of poverty. Women entrepreneurship is very impressive in Ghana because they outnumber men.

Mr Charles Abani highlighted on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are build on the commitment of all countries to ‘leave no one behind’ and said , “Entrepreneurship is the bedrock of economic development and it is the foundation for stronger families, communities and countries. Post pandemic recovery needs to be inclusive as women are an integral part of the economic growth. Building back better is also about building back more inclusively. If women play an identical role as men in the labour market, 12 trillion USD or 26 percent can be added to global GDP by 2025.”

It was followed by a panel discussion on Access to Finance & Enabling environment for policies, exports & imports.
The panellists were Kosi Yankey- Ayeh, CEO, Ghana Enterprise Agency; Leticia Browne, Director Intelligent Capital Group; Kusum Singh, Deputy General Manager, India Exim Bank and Shakila Makandar, Founding Director, Bromide Entertainment Pvt Ltd. It was moderated by Abena Ntori, UN Habitat.

Dharitri Patnaik, Founder Chair of FLO Bhubaneswar Chapter and National Head, Empowering women through Trade & Business’ was the Day Chair for the session.
Jayanti Dalmia, Sr. Vice President of FLO gave the Vote of Thanks.