World Bank Partners With GCIC To Launch Ghana Country Climate and Development Report

The World Bank Country Director, Pierre Laporte, at the launch of the Ghana Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), stated that ‘only prompt action can change the climate change trajectory’.  He went on to explain that without action, one million people would fall into poverty due to erratic precipitation, rising temperatures, land degradation and pollution.

Moderated by the Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC), the World Bank partnered with the GCIC to launch the CCDR, which develops on the implications of a Climate Resilient and Low Carbon Development (CRLCD) pathway, that will foster more green, resilient, and inclusive growth in Ghana; and explores the ways in which Ghana can pursue its development objectives while considering the challenges of climate change and the opportunities from the transition.

In the Opening Remarks, The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Honorable Sam Jinapor, emphasized that 85% of Ghanaians depend on the forest for some form of sustenance and that with climate issues having reached a tipping point it is important for Climate change and development to be intertwined to eradicate poverty and hunger.

Lorenzo Carrera, the Sector Leader Sustainable Development, in his presentation, of the report listed seven key points that #Ghana could focus on to change its challenges into opportunities.

  • Adopt an integrated approach to agriculture and environmental management
  • Build sustainable cities and resilient infrastructure systems through better urban development
  • Boost disaster risk preparedness through early warning systems, better national financial
  • preparedness against climate shocks, and adaptive health and social protection systems
  • Manage forest resources as an asset for climate resilience
  • Transition to clean energy by scaling up renewable energy sources and strengthening regional
  • energy markets
  • Modernize transport systems by improving public transportation and updating vehicle standards

The event was also attended by The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, whilst the panel discussion was made up of key stakeholders from the environmental and climate space, and included the Hon Mohammed Adam, Deputy Minister for Energy, Prof. Irene S. Egyir, Dean College of Agriculture, University of Ghana, Mrs. Roselyn Fosuah Adjei, Director Climate Change Directorate, Forestry Commission, Professor Denis Worlanyo Aheto, Director Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience, Univeristy of Cape Coast.

The impact of climate change on Ghanaians was captured perfectly by two spoken word and one dance performance by Rita Adwoa Arthur and Rhyme Sonny.

In conclusion to the panel discussion, Professor Irene Egyir, concluded that every Ghanaian has the responsibility to practice good environmental habits and be conscious about how we think, what we do and what we are taught.

To read the full details of the #GhanaCCDR report click on the link http://wrld.bg/spvF50LqqyB

#GhanaCCDR #GCIC #WORLDBANKAFRICA @worldbankafrica @worldbank

GCIC Executive Director Speaks At TFS – Canada’s International School

The Chief Executive of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, Rukayatu Sanusi, was recently invited to speak at the prestigious Toronto French School (TFS – Canada’s International School) in Ontario, facilitating a session with an economics class of 90 students on The Political Economy of Climate Change, in the school’s Learning Forum. She drew from her rich experience of work in the Ghanaian sustainability space, using the GCIC as a case study and touching on climate smart enterprises as well as driving Policy Alternative for a Greener Economy (PAGE).

Ruka hosted a second session, at a dinner for the Eco Prefects and Environmental Leaders, as well as alumni and their female parents, around her work with women entrepreneurs and women’s economic empowerment, both at the GCIC and in her personal capacity as a consultant. TFS’ Alumni Association (TFSAA) comprises of more than 3,100 alumni currently living in 31 countries around the world.

TFS’,Black Excellence Society also hosted Ruka for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to interact with her. The society was founded in 2020 by Ed-Esther Kenga, a French teacher, and Aidan J., a Level IV (Grade 11) student, to offer a safe space for students of African Canadian descent, amongst others, to dialogue.

Prior to heading GCIC, Ruka worked for two decades in international consulting in both the UK and Africa for organizations such as Price Waterhouse Coopers. She offered business advisory services to small and growing businesses, especially those owned and run by women through her own advisory firm, Alldens Lane.

She captures her passion, which has driven her to support entrepreneurs, especially women, when she once said in an interview that, “When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re stretched on all sides. There are no creature comforts, you’re depending on a smaller team and therefore have greater responsibilities. It can really frustrate your ambitions.”

Toronto French School (TFS), founded in 1962, was the pioneer of French immersion education in Canada, and is an independent, bilingual, co-educational and non-denominational school. The intent behind the school’s forming, and the kind of education and values that were established at its beginning, remain at the core of their identity today. The mission of the school is to develop multilingual critical thinkers who celebrate difference, transcend borders, and strive for the betterment of humankind.

Sixty years after being founded, TFS has grown to become one of the largest independent schools in Canada, that continues to offer an exceptional education at its Toronto and Mississauga campuses and in this way helps to shape young learners into engaged bilingual citizens who are empowered to make an impact on the world. It is interesting to note that, until her death, Queen Elizabeth II was the royal patron of the school.

The GCIC Spotlight – Nasam Brand Enterprise

Solutions to climate change come is many surprising forms and the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre is proud to put the spotlight on NASAM Brand Enterprise has been a two-time cohort with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre and the 2018 Winner of the NATIONAL BEST IMPROVED WOODSTOVE FOR HOUSEHOLD CHALLENGE, organized by SNV a Netherland Development Organization, in Ghana.  The company is also a member of the Ghana Alliance for Clean Cooking (GHACCO)

The company was founded by Bismark Asamoah Asante in 2015, with a production site in Cape Coast with a sales shop at Kasoa opposite the ADB Bank, designing, manufacturing, and retailing clean wood stoves, gas stoves and charcoal powered cookstoves for urban and rural households in Ghana and the rest of Africa.

The range of NASAM’s product line consists of the Obaa Hemaa Special woodstove, gas stoves, coal pots, grilled stoves, and ovens.  Clean stoves tend to create space between the charcoal grate and other stove parts to lift the charcoal grate slightly off the bottom of the stove and increase the space to the sides of the stove and a deflector plate between the charcoal chamber and the bottom of the stove to radiate heat backwards. This limits the places where the hot grate can conduct heat to other stove parts and heat from charcoal is mainly transferred through radiation.

In order to put into perspective the importance of NASAM’s activities, one needs to note that according to https://consult.defra.gov.uk/airquality/domestic-burning-of-wood-and-coal, burning wood for domestic use is one of the biggest contributors to particulate emissions which make up 38% of total PM emissions, compared to 16% from industrial burning and 12% through transport.

In Ghana, about “73% of households rely on solid fuels for cooking. Over 13,000 annual deaths are attributed to exposure to indoor air pollution from inefficient combustion. In this study, assessment of thermal efficiency, emissions, and total global warming impact of three cookstoves commonly used in Ghana was completed using IWA water boiling test (WBT) protocol. Statistical averages of three replicate tests for each cookstove were computed. Thermal efficiency results were: wood-burning cookstove 12.2%, traditional charcoal cookstove 23.3% and improved charcoal cookstove 30%. The wood-burning cookstove emitted more CO, CO2 and PM2.5 than charcoal cookstove (coal pot) and improved cookstove”: https://www.academia.edu/69663481/Thermal_efficiency_of_charcoal_fired_cookstoves_in_Ghana

Other disadvantages of using conventional wood stoves include bad health, death, deforestation as well as the waste of time

There are most however options to reducing the harmful effects and boost sustainability, with products like the NASAM range.  https://circularecology.com/carbon-offset-projects/clean-cookstoves-africa.html states that “Cleaner cookstoves typically reduce the energy consumption for cooking by 40-60%. This results in reduced carbon emissions, as well as many other benefits”.

The wider benefits also include

  • Reduced consumption of firewood / cooking fuel
  • Potentially saving families up to 15% of their valuable household income
  • Improved building indoor health
  • WHO’s estimate that indoor smoke is responsible for 1.9 million deaths in Africa annually
  • Time saving, due to less time spent collecting fuel and more efficient and quicker cooking process
  • Reduced deforestation

Bringing it home, NASAM’s affordable gas stoves have gone a long way to improve LPG penetration, which reduces the dependence on biomass related fuels. NASAM’s wood and charcoal stoves have been rigourously tested and have an impressive thermal efficiency of 33% and 30% respectively, culminating in more than 67% fuel savings.  NASAM has been able to significantly contribute to CO2 emissions avoided, which improved from 7,849 metric tons to 62,791 metric tons in 3 months, primarily due to the award of a sub-contract for the supply of 24,000 cookstoves.

The Ghana Climate Innovation Centre supports NASAM with tools and machinery to improve its production capacity, scale and improve its production processes (including ensuring the health and safety of workers), especially so that it can meet significant and growing demand for cookstoves from a key client.

Partnering on journeys, like the one we have had with NASAM, make us excited about our next group of cohorts and the projects and interventions we will all be working on.

Ghana Climate Innovation Centre Inducts Cohort 7

On the 20th of October 2022, twenty-two (22) entrepreneurs were inducted as the 7th Cohorts of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC’s), business incubator. The induction ceremony marked the beginning of a new journey for the entrepreneurs, aimed at supporting their businesses and scaling up their efforts towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. The newly inducted entrepreneurs operate in five key sectors; 42% are climate smart agriculture businesses, 27% are into waste management, 15% are energy efficiency organizations, with the rest in the greening and solar energy sectors. All 22 entrepreneurs employ climate-smart and sustainable models in their operations

 

GCIC’s Cohort 7 is a truly diverse group comprising of businesses, located all over the country. 38% of the entrepreneurs are based in the Greater Accra Region, 27% in the Ashanti Region, 15% are from Western Region, whilst the Eastern Region, Central Region and the Volta Region and Upper Region make up 20 %.

 

As one of the focuses of the GCIC is on gender balance, this year, 50% of the entrepreneurs in the GCIC Business Incubator are women.

 

Over the next nine months, the entrepreneurs will receive among other benefits, business advice, mentoring, technical training, concept grants as well as research analytics on markets, competitors, and sector trends.

 

In her welcome address to the inductees, Ruka Sanusi, the Executive Director of GCIC stated that between June 2017 and 2020, GCIC had supported entrepreneurs to generate cumulative revenues of US$2.06m, created 733 new jobs, raised additional early and growth-stage financing of more than USD2m, and sequestered CO2 emissions of 14,500MT.

 

The GCIC’s Partnerships, Entrepreneurship, and Investment Director, Dramani Bukari, also took the entrepreneurs through the GCIC’s Technical and Product Development workstream and highlighted how the entrepreneurs can improve on their product innovation to meet global standards by using the support services offered by GCIC.

 

He said “The GCIC works to improve technologies and products, whilst stimulating climate risk mitigation and improving management practices.  We also invested in ensuring that our cohorts grow climate resilient businesses”.  He went on to say, “Our grants are available after application and involve the submission of evidence of the efficient and effective utilization of the awarded funds”. 

 

Daniel Ababio, Senior Manager at EY Ghana (GCIC ‘s implementation partners for the Global Affairs Canada supported program) explained the Monitoring and Evaluation process implemented by EY to help track the growth of businesses to the Inductees during their time in the incubator.

 

“We look forward to sharing your success stories during and at the end of the program”. He said.

 

Each year, at the end of the induction ceremony, the cohorts are presented with asparagus fern potted plants to nurture and maintain as a metaphorical reminder of the dedication they will need to cultivate in order to grow their businesses during and after the business incubation period.

 

The Cohort 7 entrepreneurs will complete their tenure in June 2023.

Stakeholders explore pathways, strategies, and ambitions for advancing locally led adaptation in Ghana

Stakeholders from governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society and the private sector engaged in climate action in Ghana have held a one-day workshop to explore pathways and shared ambitions for advancing locally-led adaptation in Ghana.

This one-day workshop was organized by APRI -Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI), in collaboration with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC).

It explored pathways through which locally-led adaptation can support Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and the country’s climate change adaptation planning.

In her opening remarks, Dr Grace Mbungu, the Head of the Climate Change Program at APRI stressed that locally-led climate adaptation initiatives are becoming important policy tools and approaches for making climate action more effective.

This is because individual farmers, households, and resource managers that are operating at the micro-level make most of the key land use and resource allocation decisions to adapt to the threats and opportunities posed by a changing climate.

As such, climate adaptation actions risk being ineffective if they fail to be led by the views and priorities of the local stakeholders who influence land, water, and other resource use decisions.

“We need to learn from those who are at the forefront, dealing and coping with the effects of the climate crisis. The steps they take to deal with the day-to-day effects of climate change can and should inform policy and implantation strategies. Those actions that could be supported should also receive support,” Dr Mbungu said.

Rukayatu Sanusi, the Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre also highlighted the importance of the workshop. She emphasized that Ghana is making some progress in formulating policies, strategies and projects to advance climate action, and it is important for the country to deepen learnings from initiatives on locally-led adaptation, to inform the country’s priorities advanced in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and the National Adaptation Framework.

In a short presentation made by Dr Albert Arhin, a Research Fellow at APRI, he showed that climate finance is not reaching the local level as expected. This is because just about 3.5% out of the US$ 1.3 billion climate finance inflows to Ghana from 2011-2019 were spent on climate adaptation initiatives that supports local communities to adjust and respond to the harsh realities of climate change.

The workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders to explore opportunities, barriers and constraints for accelerating locally-led climate adaptation in Ghana. They further explored key priorities and entry points for advancing locally-led adaptation as a key component of Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions.

Barriers To Financial Access For Female Entrepreneurs

Women are a crucial tool for economic development and in Africa they account for over 50% of the population. Further, Sub-Saharan Africa leads the world in female entrepreneurship rates and Ghana is one of the top ranked countries in this regard. Surprisingly, given these facts, in 2018 Africa’s women contributed only a third of the continent’s GDP[1].

 

This irony hints at a gap between entrepreneurial activity and profitability. One of the reasons for this gap is that accessing appropriate finance to operate and grow their businesses continues to be a struggle for women. The result is smaller, less capital intensive, less revenue earning and less profitable businesses that provide fewer jobs, compared to men’s businesses.

 

Women often cite difficult access to finance as a major business hurdle and it needs to be overcome for the achievement of equitable business outcomes with their male peers. This was the motivation for recent workshops organized by GCIC for its women cohort.

 

The factors behind difficult access to finance for women include many that are external to them or exogenous, and others that are shaped by their own behaviours and are therefore endogenous. Some of these factors are shown below:

 

Exogenous Factors:

  • Funders associating women’s businesses with higher risk.
  • Lack of suitable types of finance for women’s needs.
  • Male-controlled funding organizations
  • Prohibitive cost of finance.
  • Lack of assets to use as collateral for loans.
  • Customary laws and traditions that limit women’s inheritance rights or land acquisition.

 

Endogenous Factors:

  • Women’s self-perception of being unqualified.
  • Women’s risk aversion.
  • The informality of many women’s businesses.
  • Women’s lack of investor readiness.

 

To overcome exogenous obstacles, a profound paradigm shift is required to enable women to inherit and own assets to use as collateral, remove the perception of their lower competence and attract more women financiers to decision making positions. Such a move is long overdue and would help to put more finance in the hands of women who need it.

 

While development finance institutions acknowledge the need to provide more capital for women and have contributed to funds designated for this purpose, qualifying criteria is often challenging. Also, access can be through traditional banks that do not have a history of being particularly women friendly.

 

Endogenous barriers stem from factors which include women’s lack of self-confidence, lack of business skills and expertise, their risk aversion, and sometimes a lack of attention to proper structures and systems in their businesses. A lack of confidence combined with risk aversion could hold women back from applying for financing opportunities because they assume they would fail to qualify or consider it too risky.

 

Training in business and leadership skills would increase competence and self-confidence and make them better prepared to apply for finance. but in addition, women would also benefit from being offered a wider choice of funding options. Hybrid financing models are needed which offer a balance of patient capital with elements of mentorship, expertise, and market access. Examples are venture capital and revenue share loans where investment is accompanied by business support.

 

Incubators like GCIC play an important role by giving women tools to empower themselves and their businesses. Through its Women Entrepreneurs Transformation Programme (WETP), GCIC delivers curated programmes to increase the confidence of female entrepreneurs and better prepare them to overcome barriers to achieving their business goals. This includes helping them to be more investor ready.

 

At the end of the day, for women owners of small and growing businesses, the need is not just for finance, but appropriate finance coupled with skills to operate and grow their businesses to profitability and success.

[1] Mckinsey, 2019

5 Women Owned Startups Awarded GHC 495,000 In The Standard Chartered Women In Technology (SCWIT) Cohort 2 Programme

On the 4th October 2022, Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator programme (SC-WIT) Cohort 2 has awarded GHC 90,500 each in seed funding to five women-owned businesses to scale up their business operations.

The programme is a business incubator specifically designed to provide business support for women-owned businesses that leverage technology as part of the bank’s commitment to creating opportunities for female entrepreneurs whilst contributing to bridging the gender gap.

The entrepreneurs have been through a nine-month-long incubation programme that comprised business advisory and financial interventions, including a highly acclaimed high-value Mini MBA programme managed by Ashesi University’s Ghana Climate Innovation Centre.

The entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel. Five of the most outstanding businesses received a financial grant of the cedi equivalent of $10,000, to scale up their business.

The five winners are:

Farmio Limited: An innovative agribusiness company focused on providing tech-enabled agribusiness investment solutions for people interested in building sustainable and profitable agricultural businesses. Farmio has its main objective of maximizing value for its key stakeholders who contribute towards our greenhouses. The business builds and manages greenhouses while guaranteeing market access for its produce through its major partnerships at premium prices.

Bood Company Limited: An agribusiness that began operations in 2019 and has three co-founders. The company is legally registered and licensed as a commercial Agribusiness under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s, Savannah Investment Project. BOOD specializes in the production of maize and other cash crops such as cashew and shea in rural communities.

H.A Farms:  A poultry business located in Mankessim in the central region of Ghana. It was started in 2017 by Hannah Aidoo with a first batch of layers coming in August 2018. H.A farms was established to provide employment opportunities in our community and help improve the nutritional needs of consumers. Its aim as a company is to provide healthy and affordable meat and eggs to our cherished customers.

The Delse Shop: a shop that desires to bring the best made in Ghana beauty products to the modern African woman whilst supporting rural female farmers. It combines affordability and luxury to make searching and purchasing natural beauty products easier and more convenient. The enterprise’s mission is to celebrate the African woman by making available the best hair and skin care products that are also environmentally friendly. It does this by partnering with local farmers and producers to provide the best organic beauty products for the modern everyday woman.

Happy Eagle Tourism Management: A company that creates, plans, and sells domestic tours within Ghana. It has integrated Artificial intelligence onto its platform, which helps recommend affordable air tickets, restaurants, tour activities as well as hotels and restaurants that appeal to the needs of various budgets. During the lockdown, it developed ARR to help tourists who are not able to travel to have the feel and experience of tours independent of their location.

Some of the significant results of the programme include over twenty-one (21) new jobs that have been created, five of which are for women, whilst 22271 households have access to products from the cohort. $125,655 in revenue has been generated by the businesses and $50,000 has been received as grants.  It is also significant to note that 12 out of the 16 regions were represented in the selection of entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the graduation, Angela Okai, Company Secretary, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC touched on Standard Chartered Banks commitment in supporting women in technology saying “SC Women in Technology incubator is in line with the Bank’s commitment to drive sustainability by contributing to the economic development of Ghana and in tandem with our approach to sustainability. It offers women start-ups a unique opportunity to receive guidance from experienced and successful professionals. It aims to promote more diversity of thought and innovation and provide more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial excellence.”

The Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, Rukayatu Sanusi, a key partner of the programme, in her address highlighted, the importance of technology in business development, stating ‘for us at the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, technology is key to dealing with climate change, cyberwarfare, and the reorientation of job sectors, to name but a few. And so, it is imperative that women reap the benefits and are involved in finding solutions.’

The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Programme is currently running in eight markets within Africa and Middle East including Kenya, Nigeria, UAE, and Pakistan. In Ghana, the program is run in partnership with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, an Institute of Ashesi University.

Incubating Climate Innovation 2022 In Pictures

On 15th June 2022, The Ghana Climate Innovation Centre organised Incubating Climate Innovation, an annual thought leadership symposium which brings to the fore the conversation on inclusive, sustainable economic development, gender, entrepreneurship, and support for Ghana’s Green Economy. Under this year’s theme, “Building the Green Economy in Ghana: The Role of Gender and Entrepreneurship”, the symposium served as a platform for strategic economy and ecology conversations led by speakers from the government, private sector, development agencies, as well as SMEs. The discussions and deliberations focused on: • The Green Economy in Ghana’s context • The ideal path and key considerations for countries like Ghana • The role of Ghana’s entrepreneurial eco-system in green growth • Gender inclusiveness and the approaches to addressing challenges and developing the green economy. The Keynote Address for this year’s event was delivered by H.E. Ms. H.E Kati Csaba, Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana.

GCIC Conducts Environmental and Social Safeguards Assessment on Cohort 6 Businesses

In the last quarter, the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) conducted an Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) Assessment on all 18 businesses in GCIC’s business incubator and accelerator programme. The objective of the assessment was to identify the possibility of adverse environmental and social impacts emanating from the individual business operations to offer viable solutions. 

Through the development and management of GCIC’s environmental and social safeguards, we supported enterprises to deploy all the necessary national and best practice protocols in the operation and management of their enterprises. The financial and technical support GCIC offers to businesses in the cohort are targeted at driving sustainable scalability and the growth of enterprises, while ensuring that pollution and other detrimental impacts on the environment and people and reduced. These safeguards are measures taken by governments, companies, organisations, or communities to assess and afterwards prevent a potential risk or impact which can adversely affect the environment.

As a first step in the ESS process, an environmental and social screening is conducted at the various operational sites of GCIC’s enterprises for the identification of any potential environmental and social impacts. This enables us to recommend mitigation measures for redress. Additionally, these enterprises are given the necessary guidance for the implementation of required protocols for sustainability.  

The ESS screening and assessment of businesses under GCIC’s programme provides an opportunity to evaluate the operations and implications of these businesses based on the following indicators: 

  • Social safeguard screening: people’s access to economic resources; temporary or permanent loss of crops, and household infrastructure; excavation near or demolishing of any historical, archaeological, or cultural heritage site; prone to hazards and could result in accident and injury to workers.
  • Environmental safeguard screening: the encroachment of important natural habitats; introduction of pesticides; solid or liquid waste management; prone to soil erosion; contamination and pollution hazards; emission of copious amounts of dust and hazardous fumes. 

Upon successful assessment, primarily based on the above factors, information is reviewed so that impacts and their mitigation measures are determined. Recommendations are afterwards given to the enterprises bordering on the following: 

  • An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), 
  • A Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) or an
  • Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP). 

These efforts culminate in ensuring that our enterprises comply with global and national protocols and that their operations do not cause adverse environmental and social disadvantages. 

Largely, ESS considers policies, standards and operational procedures designed to first identify and then try to avoid, mitigate, and minimize adverse environmental and social impacts resulting from the operations of enterprises and development projects. As a sustainability measure, ESS is prioritised to help address potential risks and find alternatives for redress or decline financial support to enterprises with high chances of impermissible environmental and social consequences.

In a nutshell, GCIC’s national incubator supports entrepreneurs and new ventures to become ESS compliant in the process of developing profitable and locally appropriate solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. 

Adopt innovative measures to build business resilience – Ruka Sanusi to Small and Growing Green Businesses

Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Change Innovation Center, Ruka Sanusi, has reiterated the importance of female entrepreneurs developing innovative measures to help build business resilience for small and growing businesses (SGB). She has, therefore, advocated for stringent measures aimed at addressing issues such as gender and cultural biases in entrepreneurship, access to business support, and financing modules among other factors.

She made this statement while delivering the keynote address to commence the panel discussion on gender equality and sustainable development at this year’s Incubating Climate Innovation Symposium organised by Ashesi University’s Ghana Climate Innovation Centre. Ms Sanusi said studies have shown that male-owned entrepreneurial firms significantly outperform female-owned firms around the globe.

“Globally, male-owned enterprises significantly outperform female-owned ones, and there are consistent cultural barriers for women in innovation-related fields and persistent gendered norms in entrepreneurship. When we put this together with climate change and its negative externalities, the need for climate action and more sustainable development is urgent. As our global community struggles to combat the effects of climate change, the small and growing business (SGB) sector has a vital role to play in developing adaptation solutions. However, gendered norms in entrepreneurship may slow these solutions”, she revealed.

Ruka Sanusi further stressed the need to build more confidence and support among women entrepreneurs to help their businesses grow, and improve innovative ideas, and livelihood.

The theme for this year’s symposium was “Building the Green Economy in Ghana: The Role of Gender and Entrepreneurship”. Incubating Climate Innovation is an annual thought-leadership symposium which brings to the fore the conversation on inclusive, sustainable economic development, gender, entrepreneurship, and support for the Green Economy.

In her Keynote address, the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana H.E. Ms. Kati Csaba revealed that the Canadian Government is set to contribute $132.9 million to establish the Canada-African Development Bank Climate Fund to support climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts on the continent.

She said the fund will enhance women’s economic rights and participation in climate action and mobilize private capital to fill the climate investment gap in Africa.

“Canada understands that urgent action is needed to support climate action and that is why a doubling of our international climate finance commitment to $5.3 billion over the period 2022 – 2027 will respond to the current climate emergency, particularly in support of African countries which are disproportionately affected. These funds will contribute to strengthening Ghana’s ability to respond to the economic and social impacts of climate change and the damage caused by COVID-19.”, she stated.

In addressing the importance of a gender-based approach to addressing climate change, she added,

“The needs of women and girls are at the heart of Canada’s development assistance efforts, which are grounded in the six pillars of our Feminist International Assistance Policy.  Environment and climate action and ensuring growth that works for everyone are priorities that frame Canada’s work in Ghana.”

In delivering the Welcome address, the Provost of Ashesi University, Professor Angela Owusu-Ansah highlighted Ashesi University’s commitment to supporting sustainable climate-smart innovations while stressing the importance of “simple, novel and effective solutions to solving the complexities of climate change”.

“Fast fashion contributes to 10% carbon emissions and is a key contributor to global warming making it the second largest polluter behind the oil and gas industry. Designer houses on the contrary are in the business of slow fashion which purports quality and sustainability of clothes enabling consumers to buy fewer but more expensive classic-styled clothes less frequently making it a climate-friendlier fashion type. And so it is extremely brilliant to have a renowned fashion designer sign up with GCIC, still intent on changing how she can contribute to adaptation to climate change, the economy of the country and beyond”, she expressed.

GCIC is a pioneering national business incubator with a unique focus on developing SME ventures and entrepreneurs in Ghana’s ‘Green Economy’. Our mission is to develop and support an exceptional set of transformational ventures and entrepreneurs who are pioneering adaptive and mitigating solutions for climate change issues in Ghana. We do this with a focus on five key economic sectors (energy efficiency & renewable energy; solar power; climate-smart agriculture; domestic waste management; water management and purification), the provision of premium business advisory and business mentoring services, technical support in the development, prototyping and testing of their innovation, as well as financial Proof of Concept grants to qualifying SMEs within our incubator.

GCIC is an institute of Ashesi University and is currently funded by a grant from Global Affairs Canada. The Centre, with its partner, EY Ghana, offers a unique combination of experience and excellence in private sector development, climate change, entrepreneurship, education and training, and research and development know-how.

GCIC’s Cohort 6 Women Entrepreneurs Transformation Programme (WETP)

Women’s multiple roles and responsibilities compete for their time and attention, often leading to stress, inner conflict, and guilt. GCIC’s annual Women Entrepreneurs Transformation Programme (WETP) is a series of workshops designed to support its women cohort as they juggle womanhood and entrepreneurship in the Ghanaian context.

This year’s workshops began in April and have been on the themes of Self Leadership, Skilful Parenting and Relationships, with Barriers to Financing to follow.

In case you are wondering why such a programme is called for, consider the following:
• Entrepreneurs bring a vision to reality, using limited resources including human capital, time, and finance.
• An entrepreneur’s own time, intellect, leadership, and effort are key resources.
• A female entrepreneur is often also a mother, wife, and daughter. And in the local context, these social roles are viewed as pre-eminent for a woman.

A woman’s traditional roles are considered by society to be the perfect fit for her – homemaker, caregiver, nurturer, and backup support to a leading male – and she is expected and socialised to dedicate herself to these. A woman entrepreneur wants to execute these roles well and still achieve her business dreams, hence her conflicted feelings, society’s judgement, guilt and sometimes loneliness.

Also, consider these scenarios:
• A woman business founder leads her team to an important meeting, but once there her counterparts ignore her. Instead, her staff are deferred to because they are men and therefore, must be the real leaders. As a woman, her title of CEO is seen as a token, and she could not possibly be the decision-maker of the group.
• A woman CEO attends business meetings and must spend time and effort to bring the topic back to business and away from her looks, agreeing to a date or worse.
• A female entrepreneur is repeatedly refused a bank loan because her business is too small, not in the right sector, or is not considered viable in the hands of a woman.

The WETP workshops provide a safe space for women to learn, share experiences, ask questions and challenge the status quo. They are helped to navigate the multiple roles, spaces, pressures, and prejudices to thrive, realise their visions and succeed in business.

Against this background, Self-Leadership provided participants with tools on how to grow their leadership skills by empowering themselves to know who they are, learn the power of their voice, and also inspire leadership in those around them.

Skilful Parenting taught mothers how to raise healthy well-adjusted children. Participants learnt to recognize potential threats and developmental challenges and received tips on how to deal with them. Topics included child development, understanding temperament, communicating with your children, and instilling self-esteem and values.

The Relationship workshop was about building and growing rewarding relationships at work and designing fulfilling bonds at home. Participants were taught how to appreciate themselves and better communicate what they want to those around them, both at work and at home.

Watch this space for more on the WETP and how GCIC is levelling the playing field for its cohort members.

GCIC Hosts ‘Mompreneurs’ Session for Women Business Leaders

As part of its commitment to support and amplify the voice and agency of women in the business sector, and further build the capacity for women entrepreneurs in the green economy, Ashesi University’s Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) has organized a special session for ‘Mompreneurs’ – female business leaders in its business incubator who are combining motherhood and parenting with business leadership.

The session, which was organized on 28th April as part of GCIC’s Women Entrepreneurs Transformation Program (WETP), brought together female business owners, a clinical psychologist, and a parenting coach under the theme of Self Balance: Work + Life.

Recognizing that raising children is a full-time job and being a working mother with your own business is essentially equal to having two full-time jobs, the session sought to equip Mompreneurs in the GCIC business incubator with the knowledge, tools, and skills to effectively care for, respond to, and manage their needs of their children.

Speaking at the session, Ruka Sanusi, the Executive Director of GCIC, reiterated the organisation’s commitment to designing and implementing gender-sensitive business advisory and support services to contribute to the success of both male and female-led climate-smart SMEs within the business incubator.  She said: “At GCIC, we recognize the importance of creating a supportive ecosystem for women in leadership positions to help them overcome the multiplicity of challenges they face in running their businesses as well as their personal lives.  A session such as this supports our Mompreneurs by providing them with tools and skills to improve the wellbeing and positive development of their children and their families. “

One of the two resource persons, Dr Adzika Agbemenya Vincent, a Medical Psychologist at Neptune Medical Centre, Tema, led the session on the psychology of parenthood and skilful parenting where he shared the importance of knowing your child’s personality to promote his/her natural potential for optimal outcomes.

“As a parent, you must be intentional about raising your child. Set aside time to talk and listen to each other. Turn off phones, computers, and televisions when you and your child are communicating and talk about everyday things as you go through your day. As a parent, you should be open to talking about all kinds of feelings, including anger, joy, frustration, fear and anxiety with your child”, he advised.

The facilitating Special Education and Parenting expert shared in the struggles of working mothers and revealed practical skills that she employed herself while raising her own three children who now occupy prominent positions in society.

“There is a popular saying that goes this way ‘we expect women to work like they don’t have children and expect them to raise children like they don’t work’. It can be very daunting to think about society’s expectations of working mothers, but no matter what, it is your responsibility as a mother to prioritize your child. Don’t outsource your child’s wellbeing to anyone, take full responsibility for it and you will reap the benefits when they become adults”, she encouraged.