Title: MILLENUIM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND AFRICAN WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN AFRICA The African Studies centre pub
1MILLENUIM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND AFRICAN WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS IN AFRICA(The African Studies
centre public Discussions)LUCIA QUACHEY
(MRS)Keynote Address at a public meeting of
African and international Experts meeting with
Dutch audience to discuss the millennium
Goals.Leiden, Netherlands8-12 November,
2005
2Millennium Development Goals and African Women
Entrepreneurs in Africa The Role of AFWE and GAWE
- INTRODUCTION
- The inability of Africans economy to turn the
tide of underdevelopment low food production
levels, balance of payment difficulties,
inflation, rapid population growth, low or
negative GDP growth rates, high cost of borrowing
declines in social services and standards, etc,
have brought to the fore discussions on the role
of women entrepreneurs and the development of the
informal productive sector in Africa. - Lately, attention has begun to fall on the use
and benefits of alternative approaches to
development. It is this new policy setting that
brings about the need to explore the potential
contribution of women entrepreneurs in the
informal and small scale industrial sector to
Africas economic recovery and development. - Entrepreneurship in all its diversity in Africa
provides a dynamic and potentially efficient
means of meeting many of the emerging challenges
of the development and debt crisis in Africa. - However Entrepreneurship in the African context
remains concerned with the graduation of informal
sector ventures with a realistic business
prospectus to better established and endowed
enterprise, as well as promotion of economic
diversification, export to niche market, future
growth and higher living standards.
3Millennium Development Goals and African Women
Entrepreneurs in Africa The Role of AFWE and
GAWE CONT.
- A number of United Nations Resolutions have
stressed the importance of developing indigenous
entrepreneurial capabilities as a means of
accelerating recovery and sustaining development.
The Arusha and Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies
for the Advancement of Women as well as the Abuja
Declaration of Participatory Development (which
defined the role of women in Africa in the 90s),
have also emphasized the importance of enhancing
the capacities of women entrepreneurs as means of
increasing their contribution to economic
recovery and development. - These strategies urgently demand that concrete
efforts be made by African women entrepreneurs to
develop stronger links between women
entrepreneurs in all African countries at all
levels to strengthen womens capabilities to deal
and cope with the increasing challenges of the
global market in order to increase market share
and eradicate acute poverty amongst women. - It is against this back ground, the GAWE
initiated and organized the first Global Women
Entrepreneurs Trade Fair and Investment Forum-
the first of its kind to be initiated and
organized by women themselves.
4ENTREPRISING WOMEN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
WOMENS ECONOMIC NETWORKS
- The First Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair
and investment Forum held in Accra on the June
1996 was a clear evidence of women building their
own capacity when given the necessary support
from the UN- Specialized Agencies and System and
other donor agencies and governments are
available. - The main theme for the First Global Women
Entrepreneurs Trade Fair and Investment Forum was
Foreign Private Direct Investment in Women
Businesses for Economic Recovery and Development
in Africa the objectives was to sensitized
members of AFWE of the need to adopt an attitude
change and set aside individualism in order to
face the challenger of under-development of women
in particular and the development of Africa in
general.
5ENTREPRISING WOMEN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
WOMENS ECONOMIC NETWORKS CONT.
- The other objectives were
- To create a unique opportunities for women
entrepreneurs from all over the world to network
economically - To provide new growth opportunities for women
entrepreneurs to emerges in the national global
economy - To expose products made by women to potential
buyers and investors. - To test quality of products against
internationally acceptable standard - To encourage women entrepreneurs to pull their
resources together maximize their output and
improve competitiveness in a liberalized and
globalized market. - To review the Beijing Platform for Action in
relation to the economic empowerment of women. - To promote non-traditional export products and
services etc - Let me share some of the experiences of the
Global Fair and Investment Fora with you.
6ENTREPRISING WOMEN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
WOMENS ECONOMIC NETWORKS CONT.
- AFWE and GAWE realized there are opportunities
for the development of the informal sector and
took advantage of the available opportunities and
make use of it, by making use of available micro
and macro policies and lobby for more policies
that will hasten the growth of the sector. - For example, after the Beijing Platform for
Action in 1995, GAWE took the initiative to
practicalize the empowerment of women by
organizing the First Global Women Entrepreneurs
Trade Fair and Investment Forum. - The idea of Africa trading with itself in
addition to inter-continental trade is very
famous among African Women in the informal cross
boarder trade sector and had been visualized in
Arusha, Tanzania by Mrs. Ruth Engo in February,
1990 during the Popular Participation Program.
She had visualized in a poem, the day a truck
load of goods would arrive Burkina Faso from
Accra in Ghana with Kente cloths and head back
home with mud cloth and other Burkina Faso
popular products. - The First Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair
and Investment Forum is a realization of that
vision which brought together diplomats,
ministers, public servants, government, chiefs
and religious leaders. It brought existing
interrelations amongst the various national
associations of women entrepreneurs grouped under
the umbrella of African Federation of Women
Entrepreneurs (AFWE). It showed power in numbers
and what women can do when given the opportunity
to do so.
7ENTREPRISING WOMEN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
WOMENS ECONOMIC NETWORKS CONT.
- The Trade Fair and Investment Forum held in Accra
June 26-3July, was a boom. This boom has been
paramount in the clothing and textile sectors
where batik products and tie and dye are in high
demand in Zambia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone,
Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United State of
America. Large orders of these products are
keeping employers and their employees in Ghana
busy. - Equally, on the fast track of demand is the hair
braiding style of Ghana for which Joyce Arts has
got a contract to establish a salon in Namibia,
Akos Engineering services, makers of agricultural
machinery in Ghana are meeting the needs of the
Nigeria agricultural sector, agricultural
machinery are also now serving the needs of
Ghanaian small farmers. - The effectiveness of coming together of women
entrepreneurs in Africa and the rest of the world
to deliberate on how they can effectively work
together to build their capacities and enhance
the economy of their various countries was quite
evident during the above forum. It created a
platform for women to network economically, most
of all it provide the rest of the world the
opportunity to see Africa at one spot. - The Forum also provided opportunity for women
entrepreneurs all over the world to share
practical real experiences with each other. The
Investment Forum was held simultaneously with the
trade fair to expose women entrepreneurs to ways
of enhancing their current businesses or creating
new ones. Topics discussed during the workshops
ranged from the role of women entrepreneurs in
the growth of the informal sector the use of
technology to aid womens businesses.
8ENTREPRISING WOMEN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
WOMENS ECONOMIC NETWORKS CONT.
- 650 women participated from 38 African Countries,
and from Pakistan, Canada, India, England,
Germany, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago,
Australia, and USA. - The conference recognized that the world economy
is moving towards what have been termed global
village where boundaries are nonexistent.
Already, trading partners such as the EEC, NAFTA,
ASEAN, CARICOM and others are being formed to
facilitate trade between nations. However, Africa
has 53 boundaries, even though there are regional
economic groups like ECOWAS, COMESA, SADC etc,
there are yet to make any meaningful impact in
terms of regional trade. - Therefore AFWE/GAWE have been advocating for one
currency for trade purposes in Africa, in order
to make trading comfortable for informal cross
boarders traders. ECOWAS has started preparation
for the use of the ECO across West African
countries but only the Anglophone countries
including Senegal, and Corte de lviore has joined
Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia and Sierra Leone to use
the ECO when it comes into force. - There are conditions these countries need to meet
before the take off the monetary system i.e.
inflation rate, interest rate, per capital
income, GDP growth rate should be 12 per annum
to qualify these countries start the use of the
ECO as a legal tender currency in all the West
African States.
9ENTREPRISING WOMEN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING
WOMENS ECONOMIC NETWORKS CONT.
- Globalization also means that products from
everywhere are being measured by the same
standards. Moreover, the rapid development in
information technology such as the internet has
meant that those who already have better access
to lucrative markets are poised to strengthen
their hold on such markets by sheer speed of
communication. This makes it more difficult for
women who are less fortunate than their male
counter part as far as education and access to
technology and other resources are concern. - The recommendations from the forum was given to
Ms.Gertrude Mongela to present to the OAU heads
of States meeting that took place in Yaoundé,
Cameroon, 1996. We did not stop there we did a
fellow up to the 1st Global in 1997, to address
some of the concerns raised with regards to ICT
and Technology for women and followed up with the
2nd Global in Addis Ababa in 1998. - We always come out with realistic and achievable
recommendations based on the needs of our members
and our ability to implement these programs
around government policies and priority for
development in Ghana. We however draws government
attention on issues that prevents us from moving
forward with our goals and make recommendations
to government and other international
institutions based on our experience on the
ground and continued with the 3rd Global in Miami
Dade County in 2000. - We have managed to work in collaboration with
governments corporate private sector and the
international communities to work on the modality
for the establishment of AFWE and GAWE and to
implement some of our vision, the first, second
and third Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fairs
and Investment Fora organized some exchange
programs for women in the food processing sector,
African Women entrepreneurs trip to Bangkok and
to India for a practical hands on training in how
to use appropriate and affordable technology to
increase production to meet acceptable quality
standards.
10TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION IMPACT ON WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
- These are tremendous opportunities for the
development of export within the globalized world
economy however, Africa aiming to enter the
market would first have to tackle the
technological gap that exists between them and
developed nations, to facilitate entry of their
products into the globalized market in the 21st
century and beyond. Women entrepreneurs with no
knowledge of ICT have additional challenge to
enter the global market. - In the case of intra-African trade, we are so
disadvantage because, every African country has
its own currency which is not legal tender in
other African countries, with the exception of
the francophone zone in west Africa that has the
CFA France used in all the 12 countries the
ECOWAS region including some Central African
countries like Cameroon and Central African
Republic, cross boarder trading in Africa is very
complex. - In order to enhance the market potential of
members, GAWE has sort for support from the
government of Ghana to establish an ICT centre to
train women to move away from the traditional
marketing and production methods, which often
result in low productivity, and substandard
quality and adopt new technologies which will
enable them compete effectively in a well
structured market. These were some of the
recommendations from the follow ups to the first
Global. Build the capacity of women in the use
of technology. - GAWE saw traditional methods that are labor
intensive as a result, they often generate low
returns. Food surpluses are often wasted because
women do not have access to technologies that
would allow them to process and store them for
the lean seasons
11TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION IMPACT ON WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS CONT.
- We see almost 30 of food crops go waste during
each harvest season due to lack of technology
storage and market information as a result, women
food producers are often displaced by big firms
using latest technologies, and responding faster
to request due to the use of internet services. - GAWE saw the need for rapid technological
advancement in the various stages of the export
business from production, processing, packaging
and handling using ICT. The use of ICT for
marketing purpose is particularly important
because in the new global market place, products
from everywhere are measured by the same quality
standards and are expected to meet datelines for
delivery. We try in order our small way to
implement some of the strategies of the UN, AU,
NEPAD, MDGs based on our set up vision to meet
the needs of our members. - For example, it is important to respond to
request as quickly as it is received which means
the use of the internet is increasingly required
and that products carry the eco-label certifying
that their production was not ecologically
harmful.GAWE put women in contact with the
scientific institutions responsible for measuring
these standards.
12TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION IMPACT ON WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS CONT.
- We are encouraging successful women entrepreneurs
to mentor other women emerging into the formal
sector, support research for the development of
the informal productive sector. We continent
carry out training to enhance the skills of
members to respond positively to market demands.
Put research information in usable form at the
disposal of members. - Women who participated in AFWE/GAWEs activities,
at local and international level, have moved from
informal to formal small enterprises and some
moved from small formal enterprise to a limited
liability companies over five years. We have on
going training on entrepreneurial and financial
management for members as well as the use of ICT
for e-commerce to expand their businesses and
markets. - GAWEs strategies are always focused on
entrepreneurial approaches to build the
capacities of women entrepreneurs, which enable
them to do things for themselves, build their
self esteem and gain automatic right in their
families and the society.
13ENTREPRENEURSHIP THE IMPACT ON WOMEN AND POVERTY
REDUCTION ON MY OWN LIFE EXPERIENCE
- How entrepreneurship changed my life and that of
my children and my family. I was forced by
circumstances beyond my control to break my
education when I was in the high school at the
age of 17, because I was pregnant and got
married. Within 3 years, I gave birth to 3
children. My father was not happy and kept
reminding me that I can still do something to
continue with my education. - As I was saddled with 3 children at the age 20
and a house wife, with no income of my own, the
only thing I could do at home at that moment was
to learn how to sew. I registered with Singer
Sewing School after a long discussions and
persuasion with my husband who did allow me to go
through the training to become a designer and
dressmaker. - At that tender age, I managed my home, my husband
and children as well as my new career with
enthusiasm. The idea that, I was doing something
that was going to make me earn an income without
falling on anybody for assistance was the driving
force behind the amount of zeal I put into all
that I did at the time. - My hours were very long, sometimes 14hrs, because
my day start at 4.00Am hours, I prepared meals
for the day, get the children ready before I
leave the house at 7.00Am, return home at 6pm,
attend to the children, my husband and when
everybody is a sleep by 11.00pm I went through my
home work because I could not close late as
others do but did extra work at night after
attending to my family, Most of the time I have
only 3 hours of sleep.
14ENTREPRENEURSHIP THE IMPACT ON WOMEN AND POVERTY
REDUCTION ON MY OWN LIFE EXPERIENCE CONT.
- After 3 years with singer sewing school, I was
made to sew a shirt. We were told that when you
can sew a shirt with a collar and the entire
seems must be french seem. I used my husband size
to make the shirt and presented it to him on his
birthday. He could not believe what he saw, he
thought a brought it from the shop. In
appreciation he bought me my first sewing
machine. I made all my children dresses I stated
sewing for friends the beginning of my sewing
career at home. - This humble beginning led to the establishment of
Lucia Fashion Spot, a very informal
non-registered company, in 1969, employing 2
people without knowing how I was going to pay
them. In 1974 the company was registered as
Lucia Manufacturing Industry as a Sole
Proprietorship Company and gazzetted by
government, employing 12 people. In 1981 the
company became a limited liability company
employing 40 people running two shifts. 20 people
7am 3pm another 20 4pm- 8pm. - I can use my own experience to demonstrate how
entrepreneurship can move you from poverty to
prosperity, how it can build the self esteem of
women and give them automatic right as human
being and equality before your family and the
society. - By 1981 it became a limited liability company
with share holders. I was able to go through
self-education in from 1974 to date, joined Ghana
manufactures Association as it was then called
and rose to become a council member of
Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) as it is
known now.
15ENTREPRENEURSHIP THE IMPACT ON WOMEN AND POVERTY
REDUCTION ON MY OWN LIFE EXPERIENCE CONT.
- Teenage pregnancy and early marriage did not stop
me from building an informal company employing
three people including myself. By 1979 I was
employing 40 people running two shifts a day.
Supplying our products to leading commercial
companies in Ghana and currently we export in a
very informal small scale. The excitement is how
I managed an informal enterprise with 2 employer
people to a formal company employing 20 people. - I am very proud to relate my entrepreneurial
experience from 1974 to date, I have attended
many short courses in entrepreneurship ,
management the way it influence my empowerment as
an Africa women in leadership program, and help
others start their own businesses and also relate
my experience to develop rural enterprises. I am
very much respected and consulted by my husband,
children my family and the community, at large. - I made a significant contribution to the
education of my children, who have all past
through the university, and I serve on church and
government boards and commissions and own a
consultancy company I facilitate the growth of
informal subsistence enterprises to formal small
registered companies. - Most of all, I am empowered and have automatic
right unlike, when I had to beg my husband to
allow me to go though the training. If I can make
it through the circumstances I mentioned above
without any formal bank support every other women
can make it. Most of all I paid to participate in
short courses that has enhanced my capacity to
relate well to what I do.
16MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND AFRICAN
ENTREPRENEURS
- The international community made a huge step
forward when it identified its own goals through
the millennium Declaration which was adopted by
the General Assembly of the United Nations on 8th
September 2000. - There have been declarations before and goals set
for development in the 1990s. But l believe the
MDGs are different. It was an event in the
history of the United Nations. It constituted an
unprecedented promise by world leaders to
address, as a single package, peace, security,
development, human rights and fundamental
freedoms. Yes it is different for two reasons - First the MDGs seem to have gained attention in
the minds of governments, development agencies
and the rest of the international community in a
way that few efforts before have done. - Secondly, rather than single out one aspect of
the problem, the MDGs have linked set of
objectives-a portfolio of targets- that represent
a coherent assault on the problem of development.
And these goals have made the development
practitioners and other specialists job easier. - We now have something clear to aim at. We can now
ask in a more focused way What can women
entrepreneurs in Africa do to make the MDGs meet
the set target in Africa? What is the role of
women entrepreneurs as part of the private sector
in the implementation of the MDGs? - For the purpose of this discussion, l will like
to numerate the eight goals that were adopted at
the summit of heads of governments in September,
2000.
17MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND AFRICAN
ENTREPRENEURS CONT.
- The eight goals are
- Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
- Achieve Universal Primary Education
- Promote Gender Equality and empower women
- Reduce Child Mortality
- Improve Maternal Health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
- Ensure Environmental Sustainability
- Develop a Global Partnership for Development.
- Because of Africas scarce resources, I will like
to recommend that, we focus attention on three of
the MDGs - 1, 3 8 for five years. - I will continue with my recommendation on how
Africa should use its scarce resources to meet
the MDGs before 2015. I will further suggest that
African countries to focus their attention on
three of the eight goals and integrate its
activities for the next five years, in order to
make significant progress on the issue of
development to reduce poverty. - I will go on to illustrate for you to see that,
when we focus on the 3 goals, with its integrated
activities, it will make concrete and direct
impact on the lives of millions of people as
stated below, we will reduce poverty in the
shortest possible time.
18MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND AFRICAN
ENTREPRENEURS CONT.
- These three goals when properly addressed, with
all the seriousness it deserves, it will cut
across the five other goals. Our leaders should
have the political and moral will to get focused
for once and invest heavily in the three areas in
other to mobilize internal resources to achieve
quick results which will have linkages to the
other five goals. - Poverty can be eradicated by strong leadership in
Africa, supported by much closer teamwork from
donor countries, development agencies, African
entrepreneurs in the Diasporas, private sector
and civil society organizations. Africas
priority is to ensure government and its leaders
produce tangible results in its efforts to
support the poor and vulnerable in the society. - At the heart of the MDGs is the understanding
that, fighting poverty is a collective
undertaking and that all countries have a stake
in the results. The primary responsibility of
achieving the Goals (MDGs), rest with developing
countries in general and sub-Sahara African
countries in particular where extreme poverty is
on the increase instead of declining. - Private Foreign direct investment in
agro-business will rapidly increase growth of the
informal sector to formal sector. We appeal to
African entrepreneurs in the diasporas to take
the lead for others to follow by investing in
Africa. Private sector development, including the
development of the financial sector to deliver
wide access to services like credit and loans, is
an important aspect of the joint international
efforts to support African women entrepreneurs
and those operating in the micro, small and
medium enterprises. - Finally I will like see more Regional Economic
Communities as well private sector and civil
society and all stakeholders, have to work
together as a team to develop a plan of action
that will offer a framework for support and
expending regional and national initiatives that
will be monitored constantly to achieve real
program and produce truly African success stories
as far as the MDGs is concern.
19CONCLUSION
- I challenge African leaders to make the required
move to encourage Africans in the diaspora to
make the necessary investments needed for the
take off of the informal sector and the
empowerment of women through entrepreneurship for
self-employment activities, harmonizing of
policies for effective regional economic
activities and sea and air to facilitate regional
trade and integration. - Let me emphasis that without adequate
infrastructure to facilitate the easy movement of
people and goods and services, and long term
investment loans at reduced interest rate, we in
the private sector would not be able to take
advantage of the vast investment opportunities in
our respective sub regions. Also, I wish to state
that the viability of the African Union (AU) and
its program NEPAD will depend on the following - -African governments to formulate policies that
would place value as science and technology (ST)
and research and development encourage their
development of the continent. - The link between science and society in Africa is
presently weak, with only a few citizens able to
appreciate the value that they can derive from
science enterprise. There are disconnections
between activities of scientific communities and
the overall development aspirations of most
African countries with the net result being the
absence of a strong science culture and
constituencies that demanded and prompted
scientific and technological development. - Extend to which the private sector are allowed to
grow and create jobs. - Degree to which new improved physical
infrastructure and telecommunications will reduce
the cost of doing business and - Willingness of government and public institutions
to transform themselves to business facilitators
rather than barriers to private sector
development.
20CONCLUSION CONT.
- Distinguished organizers of this forum, speakers
and discussants, let me highlight that, in spite
of the trade protocols signed in the region, our
nations are being de-industrialized as our
manufacturing sectors die under the yoke of high
transactions cost, institutional failures and
increasing bureaucratic red tape. - It is our hope that MDGs, which is a big
challenge to African leaders and its people, will
encourage us to meet the MDGs before 2015. We
need to learn from the mistakes of similar
efforts made in the past and focus on the
practical issues of building entrepreneurial
capacity of informal sector to grow and create
jobs and alleviate poverty. - It has been a great pleasure and privilege to
talk on behalf of the African Women entrepreneurs
here today to set the tone for further
discussions on how Africa leaders and the private
sector will catch up with the rest of the world
in achieving the MDGs. - Wearing another hat as the Executive President of
Ghana Association of Women Entrepreneurs (GAWE),
it is also a great privilege to be part of this
genuinely African Studies Centre led process. - In conclusion, I would like to leave you with
this thought. Some one said, if you look at the
current situation you could argue that Africa
missed the Green Revolution. Let those of us
gathered here today make sure, we do not miss the
Blue one before us now.