In an effort to bridge the digital divide and empower women micro-entrepreneurs, GIZ Ghana through the Digital Transformation Center Ghana (DTC), has introduced an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform.

This initiative aims to improve digital literacy, enhance digital business skills, and provide accessible digital services to informal micro-entrepreneurs, particularly women, across 6 regions targeting to reach over 10,000 micro entrepreneurs in Ghana at absolutely no cost for the beneficiaries.

Whereas digital transformation creates opportunities for economic empowerment, gender disparities still limit women's participation in the digital economy.

Many women-owned businesses in cosmetics, food, retail, textiles, and handicrafts face challenges such as low digital literacy, financial constraints, and restrictive social norms. These barriers are even greater in rural areas, where poor infrastructure, limited access to devices, and high data costs make it difficult for women to benefit from digital opportunities.

To address this, DTC Ghana launched a user-friendly IVR platform to support women micro-entrepreneurs.

The platform provides digital advisory services, beginner-level business training, and responses to entrepreneurship-related inquiries. A content development workshop in Tamale introduced IVR as a tool for informal sector entrepreneurs.

By making digital resources accessible through feature phones, DTC Ghana helps more women participate in the digital economy and contributes to Ghana’s goal of an inclusive digital society.

Participating at the event, Emmanuella Afram shared the importance of voice responses to engage informal women to thrive in their business. Similarly. Dr. Naazia Ibrahim underscored the need to improve digital inclusion especially with regards to women in MSMEs’.

Contributing to the discussion, Seth Gogo Egoeh, facilitator of the event, emphasised the importance of women-led microentrepreneurs taking part in the digital economy through the IVR beginner-level trainings to help them improve their businesses thereby improving their economic conditions.

The IVR initiative is coordinated by the Digital Transformation for Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Ghana (DTEG), under the Digital Transformation Center, Ghana with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH’.

About the Digital Transformation for Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Ghana.

The Digital Transformation for Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Ghana (DTEG), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH’. The DTEG projects aims at enabling an environment for micro-enterprises to use digital transformation to strengthen their economic situation and enabling intermediaries to do trainings and coaching for female entrepreneurs.

DTEG is under the Digital Transformation Centre in Ghana which is part of a pan-African network of flagship projects that the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is building to support the transformation process on the African continent. The goal of the Digital Transformation Center in Ghana is to improve the preconditions for using digital transformation for job creation and entrepreneurship, specifically in rural areas.

About GIZ Ghana

As a provider of international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education work, GIZ is dedicated to building a future worth living around the world.

GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment, energy and the environment, and peace and security. The diverse expertise of our federal enterprise is in demand around the globe, with the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector and governments of other countries all benefiting from our services.

We work with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is our main commissioning party.

Currently, GIZ promotes sustainable development in Ghana via about 50 programmes and projects. GIZ is boosting Ghana's potential by focusing its projects on three priority areas: Responsibility for our planet - climate and energy, Training and sustainable growth for decent jobs as well as Peaceful and inclusive societies. Additionally, our portfolio extends to other areas such as environment, peace and security.

Another focus of GIZ’s work is linking business interests with development-policy goals. Most of the programmes and projects we support in Ghana have successfully brought together national and international private companies, the public sector, and civil society groups to collaborate on development initiatives. For more information, please visit www.giz.de/ghana .