MTN Ghana has called for increased investment in women-led businesses, saying access to finance, technology, markets and networks is critical to helping women move from small-scale entrepreneurship to sustainable wealth creation.
The call was made by MTN Ghana’s Chief Enterprise Officer, Angela Mensah-Poku, in a keynote address delivered on her behalf by Maame Ama Simpson, Manager of Enterprise Segment and Product Development, at the EVE Women’s Forum USA held in Maryland.
The forum brought together women of African descent, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders to discuss wealth creation, business growth, partnerships and opportunities connecting Africa with the diaspora.
Mensah-Poku said the entrepreneurial potential of women was evident across Africa and the diaspora, but access to the right resources remained a major factor determining whether businesses could grow.
Women have never lacked ambition, resilience or entrepreneurial spirit. What many have lacked is access to capital, markets, networks and tools that transform effort into opportunity,” she said.
She said the story of many women entrepreneurs was not one of a lack of ideas or hard work, but limited access to the systems and resources required to convert their efforts into long-term economic value.
Technology as an enabler
Mensah-Poku highlighted the role of digital technology in expanding financial inclusion and creating new opportunities for women entrepreneurs.
She said MTN Ghana's Mobile Money platform had helped provide millions of women with access to formal financial services, allowing them to save, transact and establish financial histories that could improve their ability to access credit.
Visibility in the financial system is often the first step towards opportunity,” she noted.
According to her, the ultimate objective should be to enable women to use such opportunities to build businesses, acquire assets, employ others and create wealth that can benefit future generations.
Wealth creation is about more than income. It is about building assets, creating jobs, investing for the future, and passing opportunities from one generation to the next,” she said.
MTN outlines support for women entrepreneurs
The Chief Enterprise Officer pointed to MTN Ghana's Adwumapa initiative as one of the company's efforts to support women-owned businesses.
The platform provides women entrepreneurs with access to connectivity, digital tools, business training, networking opportunities, insurance, telemedicine, market opportunities and financing solutions.
Mensah-Poku said such interventions were intended to help women strengthen their businesses and create sustainable livelihoods rather than merely provide short-term assistance.
She also highlighted the work of the MTN Ghana Foundation, including its commitment of GH¢1.2 million to support smallholder women farmers and unemployed youth through a modern farming initiative.
The Foundation's SME support programmes also provide training and seed capital to women entrepreneurs to help them establish and expand their businesses.
I share these examples not as programme highlights, but as evidence of what happens when barriers to opportunity are intentionally removed,” she said.
From empowerment to ownership
Mensah-Poku urged policymakers, businesses, investors and development partners to broaden the conversation around women's empowerment by focusing more strongly on ownership and wealth accumulation.
She said women should be supported to progress from informal trading to scalable enterprises and from earning income to owning productive assets.
We must help more women move from participation to ownership, from trading to scaling, from earning income to building assets, and from building businesses to creating generational wealth,” she said.
She further called for stronger links between African women entrepreneurs and diaspora investors, saying such relationships could open new sources of capital, mentorship and international markets.
We hope this Forum will strengthen the connections between African women entrepreneurs and diaspora capital, create new pathways to investment and mentorship, and unlock opportunities for women-led businesses to reach new markets,” she said.
EVE Foundation pushes cross-border collaboration
Convener of the EVE International Foundation, Lady Julia Osei Tutu, said the forum was established to strengthen connections among women of African descent and create opportunities for collaboration across borders.
She said the first EVE Women's Forum in the United States represented an important step in bringing African women and members of the diaspora together.
We have brought the daughters of African descent into one room, not as strangers meeting for the first time, but as family long separated, finally sitting at the same table,” she said.
Lady Osei Tutu said the forum was built around two key areas: partnerships across cultures and the diaspora, and the willingness to learn from one another's experiences and best practices.
She said the broader objective was to explore how women could build wealth and ensure that it remained sustainable across generations.
Together, we have to answer a single question: What does it take for a woman's social, financial, physical and mental inheritance to endure across generations and, of course, borders?” she asked.
The discussions at the forum are expected to focus on strengthening women's access to capital, knowledge, networks and markets while building stronger economic links between Africa and its diaspora.
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