Source: Development Diaries
Mastercard Foundation has announced a plan to support women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operating in the agricultural value chains in Ghana.
Development Diaries reports that the foundation also announced a plan to help in strengthening agro-processors and agriculture-related businesses in the country.
According to the Lead, Youth Engagement of Mastercard Foundation, Kafui Mills-Odoi, there is a need to train women and youth to be able to play crucial roles in the country’s economy and the digitisation of value chains.
‘By 2030, Ghana will be a continental demonstration of young people, especially women, and harnessing opportunities to shape the future of work and to create an inclusive economy with enhanced resilience for the most vulnerable’, Mills-Odoi said.
For her part, Mastercard Foundation’s Country Director for Ghana, Rica Rwigamba, said the foundation will focus on helping economically disadvantaged young people in Africa to get opportunities to move themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty.
Agriculture has driven Ghana’s economic growth in recent years and remains the primary way Ghanaians earn their living, especially the poorest.
The MSME sector in Ghana is estimated to employ more than 80 percent of its workforce and generates over 70 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).