The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with Vodafone Ghana and Access Bank, has trained 60 local women in the Upper East Region on strategies of safekeeping their business earnings in their respective communities.
The move, according to the implementing bodies, seeks to holistically help women achieve and accelerate their business capitals through the technological banking system.
Speaking at a training session held in Bolgatanga, Ms. Sylvia Senu, Economic Analyst at UNDP, said the training will enable the women to save more, increase, and improve their savings culture.
“If they can save more, increase, improve their savings culture; what it means is that they will save enough to help them access healthcare, assess education for their kids, and many more.”
Ms. Senu noted also that the 60 women who have undergone the training would be expected to further train their colleagues in their respective communities.
“What we are doing is to empower them to take a step-down training for their colleagues. So, we are estimating that over 2000 women will benefit from this training we are having here by the step-down training that those who would have received here would have shared out or spread out to their colleagues.”
These women each from a women’s group drawn from Bolgatanga, Bongo, Kassena-Nankan, and Bawku were also trained on how to transact or save money through the use of mobile money platforms.
For his part, Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation, Rev. Amaris Nana Adjei, noted that the move forms part of his outfit’s cooperates social responsibility; adding that the program will help eradicate poverty among women and ensure women will come out not as housewives but being able to do something meaningful for themselves.
“We are ensuring that this woman will be able to come out not as housewives but being able to also do something for themselves. So, in this training today we are trying to let them know that no matter whatever they are doing with their farms, business, they can bring it to a larger scale.
For them to widen their reach as Vodafone Ghana Foundation, we are making them know that once they can be able to design a plan for themselves and make their efforts to go into mainstream, it is possible.”
Mr. Adjei continued that his outfit will support the selected women with startup capitals just to let them know how to transact their businesses through the use of mobile devices.
“What we want to do to drive their passion for digitalization or digital workforce with whatever that they do or send across with their customers, so we will give them SIM cards for them do their various transactions to widen their reach with their customers.”
Mac-Neil Bruce, Team Lead, Financial Inclusion & Project and Women Banking team at Access Bank said in the era of the Coronavirus pandemic, the cashless transaction hopes to reduce the spread of the virus.
“As a partner, we link the mobile money wallet to their accounts, so, in the comfort of their homes, market places, farms, they will be able to pay their suppliers from their accounts or mobile wallet. They will also earn some interest from the accounts”, he stated.
