Government has confirmed that the GHC 10 million set aside to support women entrepreneurs, announced earlier by Business Development Minister, Mohammed Awal is ready and available for access.

“We also have the mandate to raise an additional $100 million to support businesses. Out of that we have also set up the 10 million cedis fund for women entrepreneurs. This fund which is available at the moment is solely for women.

We have already done our first call for proposals for start-ups where seven thousand applications came and at the moment, we are training them and taking them through processes across the country.

At the moment we are going to support up to 500 of the applications and the funds range between GHC 1000 and GHc 200, 000 depending on the nature of business, the capacity and ability to pay including sustainability of the business among other things.

The interest rate still remains 10% and below”, Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), Lawyer John Kumah announced.

He made this statement on behalf of government at the Women in Entrepreneurship seminar organised by the Phenomenal Women Club (PWC) to mark the International Women’s Day.

Speaking on the theme, “Female Entrepreneur, Press for Progress”, founder and president of PWC, Emelia Osei-Yeboah Kuffuor said: “The women in entrepreneurship seminar is to train about 150 women across the country in the area of entrepreneurship to mark this year’s celebration of the International Women’s Day. PWC platform also creates an avenue for women entrepreneurs to build on their networks and connections for their businesses.”

The one-day event provided women and budding entrepreneurs with tailor-made training and coaching programs aimed at capacity building and networking opportunities.

Founded in May 2008, the Phenomenal Women Club has a core mandate to support and promote the general wellbeing of its members in all spheres of life. The club maintains a very active and interactive social media platform of daily discussions and members of the club deem it very important to have a physical representation at all events.

Currently, the club has over 500 online members and 200 active members living and working in Ghana. Their membership is made up of women who are 35 years and above, from all walks of life with varied perspectives, diverse backgrounds and different experiences.

The International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8 to recognise women for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.

This year’s theme is ‘Press for Progress’. Women across the globe organised various activities to mark the day including conferences, health walks and awareness creation campaigns on gender discrimination and women empowerment.