Shea Network Ghana

The one-day workshop was held at the Mion District Assembly on Tuesday, August 22, 2022, and was attended by women from Salankpang and Kpulgine all in the district with aim to offer the women skills and broaden their understanding on financial management.

It was organized by the Shea Network Ghana (SNG) an organization 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, and was implemented by the SNG, with supervision from OXFAM Ghana.

A cross-section 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 organized to arm the women with the needed knowledge and skills to manage their finances and businesses for a secured financial future.

The women were taken through many practical topics such as Financial Planning and Money Management, Savings, Responsible Borrowing, Tracking business records, Budgeting, and Digital Finance. Speaking at the workshop, the WEACT Project Manager at Shea Network Ghana Mrs. Ubaidatu Iddrisu, explained that the workshop formed part of a larger training program that seeks to train 360 women who have already undergone a gender responsive skills development and entrepreneurial and business negotiation skills training.

She highlighted the organization’s commitment in empowering women and promoting their economic advancement, adding, that the Mion training will be replicated in 3 other districts and regions where the Shea Network Ghana works to broaden the benefits.

“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 the Global Affairs Canada (GAC), and urged the women to put the knowledge they have acquired to use so as to grow, sustainably manage their enterprises and maximize their profits.

 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.

“My expectations are that these women will expand the training to their colleagues by way of also teaching them what they have learned” she hoped

She called on women who are into entrepreneurship to practice regular records keeping, plan their finances and also, they borrow responsibly when the need be. 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.

” I didn’t know that as an entrepreneur, it is important to take daily records of our businesses, but today, we are told to always record whatever transaction we do” a participant stated “They taught us many things some of which include: how and why to save money, how and why to practice responsibly borrowing, daily records keeping and others which I think will help us a lot going forward in our businesses” another participant said

SHEA NETWORK GHANA

The Shea Network Ghana (SNG) is an organization 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 organization, 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.

Written and published by
Adam Abdul-Fatawu Wunizoya
Communications Officer
Shea Network Ghana