Women entrepreneurs numbering over 40 in the Mion District of the Northern Region, have received financial literacy training to help them manage and grow their businesses well.

The one-day workshop was held at the Mion District Assembly on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, and was attended by women from Salankpang and Kpulgine all in the district.

It was organised by the Shea Network Ghana (SNG) an organisation of shea sector businesses, stakeholders, and actors, in partnership with OXFAM.

The training formed part of the implementation of the Women's Economic Advancement for Collective Transformation (WEACT) Project which seeks to uplift women beneficiaries through education and economic opportunities, implemented by the SNG, with supervision from OXFAM Ghana.

A growing body of research suggests that women who possess better financial knowledge are more likely to make sound financial choices, create sustainable savings, and invest wisely. This, in turn, can lead to improved economic independence and long-term financial stability.

The Training was therefore organised to arm the women with the needed tools to help them secure their financial futures.

The women were taken through many topics such as Financial Planning and Money Management, Savings, Responsible Borrowing, Tracking business records, Budgeting, and Digital Finance.

In an interview, the WEACT Project Manager at Shea Network Ghana, Ubaidatu Iddrisu, explained that the workshop formed part of a larger training program that seeks to train 360 women who have already undergone gender-responsive skills development and entrepreneurial and business negotiation skills training.

She highlighted the organisation's commitment to empowering women and promoting their economic advancement., and added that the Mion training will be replicated in other districts and regions where the Shea Network Ghana works.

"By imparting financial literacy skills, we aim to arm these women with the tools they need to secure their financial futures," she said

She also added, "We believe that when women are economically empowered, entire communities thrive".

Madam Ubaidatu thanked OXFAM Ghana and Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for sponsoring the training and urged the women to put the knowledge they have acquired to use to grow and sustainably manage their enterprises.

She also appealed to them to expand the skills they gained to their fellow women who could not attend the training to help widen the benefits.

"I expect that these women will expand the training to their colleagues by way of also teaching them what they have learned" she hoped.

She further called on women who are into entrepreneurship to practice regular daily record keeping, plan their finances, and borrow responsibly.

Some of the women, in an interview, expressed gratitude to the Shea Network Ghana and their sponsors for the knowledge they received.

They also promised to make use of the skills, train their colleagues, and grow their businesses.

Sea Network Ghana

The Shea Network Ghana (SNG) is an organisation of Shea sector businesses and actors that seek to influence policy and provide solutions to industrywide challenges for the overall growth of the Shea sector in a coordinated manner.

SNG as an organisation provides platforms for actors in the shea value chain to share industry experiences and knowledge, facilitate synergy and promote shea usage, develop opportunities for stakeholders, and share benefits for all.