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Workshop for West African Enterprise Development

19 August 2004

Workshop Participants
Participants at the recent workshop in Ghana
Poor access to credit, lack of suitable technology and inadequate economic infrastructure remain major obstacles to enterprise development in West Africa.  

These problems were underscored in a report by participants at a workshop on 'Strategies for West Africa on Poverty Reduction, Gender and Enterprise Development', held in Akosombo, Ghana, from 3 to 6 August 2004. The meeting was organised by the Governance and Institutional Development Division and the Social Transformation Programmes Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and hosted by the Government of Ghana.   

In their report, delegates identified other constraints on enterprise development in the region, including barriers to trade, finance and marketing. 

The lack of capacity, including training, in business development is one problem, while insufficient technical knowledge and market-related information, is another. 

The delegates recognised the contribution of women in West Africa to food security and inter-regional trade through agricultural production and marketing, despite poor access to resources and credit facilities. 

The participants discussed strategies for poverty eradication among women, stressing the need for support from partners in and outside government, parliamentarians and trade unions as well as research, policy and training institutions.  

Best practices in enhancing the role of women in society were also highlighted, with Ghana identified as one of the countries that has been successful in such promotion. Through the 'Women's Development Fund', the country's Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs has disbursed one hundred billion cedis (around US$11 million) in loans to more than 100,000 women running micro-enterprises in agriculture, agro-processing, textile making and trading. An impressive 95 per cent of loans have been paid back. 

In their recommendations, participants called for women to be provided with micro-credit loans and grants at low interest rates. They proposed partnership and joint ventures among women entrepreneurs and encouraged support in linking small enterprises with national, regional and global markets. 

Around 70 participants from Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and non-Commonwealth countries Guinea and Liberia attended the workshop. They comprised government officials, the Economic Community of West African States and development organisations including the World Bank, UN agencies, as well as civil society representatives.

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