José Viñals, Group Chairman-Standard Chartered PLC., has paid a two-day working visit to Ghana. As part of his visit, he had a fireside-chat with 5 female start-ups who are beneficiaries of the Standard Chartered Women in Technology incubator programme. These entrepreneurs have great innovationswhich have the potential to transform and propel Ghana’s future economic prospects.
Sharing their stories, female entrepreneurs shared the ‘Eureka’ moments that led them to start their businesses. They have all identified a social need that affected people’s lives and proffered solutions to tackle these problems, and turned them into businesses. The businesses are:
- Soko Bags – a producer of eco-friendly reusable bags made from cotton and jute fibre
- Reecoplast – which transforms plastic waste into high quality pavement blocks
- Sabon Sake – a provider of regenerative solutions that tackle degraded soils for farming
- Farmio – specialising in greenhouse farming systems, increasing productivity and revenue for farmers, and
- Kodu Technology – producer of eco-friendly sanitary towels made from banana and plantain fibre.
Mr. Vinals in addressing the start-ups compared them to businesses in Silicon Valley, and stated that their common denominator is innovation. He commended the ladies for being innovative in tackling indigenous problems that are peculiar to Ghana – starting businesses to create jobs and tackle unemployment in the process. He stated that the bank lives by its brand promise of ‘here for good’, and as sustainability is one of the bank’s pillars he is proud of how dreams have been turned to reality and how the bank is supporting female-led businesses to improve lives.
Ms. Ruka Sanusi, Executive Director-Ghana Climate Innovation Centre – implementer of the programme, who was part of the session added that policy and advocacy are critical in ensuring that small business can be sustained to create jobs, provide livelihoods and reduce poverty.
The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator
As a bank, we believe that empowering women-owned businesses is crucial in driving Ghana’s economic development and accelerating progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Standard Chartered Women in Tech (SC WiT) Incubator programme is an important part of the bank’s entrepreneurship offering within Futuremakers – the global initiative aimed at tackling inequality and promoting economic inclusion. The SC WiT incubator was launched in Ghana during November 2020. Since the launch, 34 female-owned start-ups have gone through the incubator; with 10 receiving the cedi-equivalent of US$10,000 to scale up their businesses. The businesses span several industries, including agriculture, e-commerce, construction and technology among others.
The programme is timely, as it supports female entrepreneurs and speaks to Ghana’s economic and education agenda of ensuring employment through entrepreneurship and actively advocating for girls in ICT. With the WiT incubator, we are providing the platform for women-owned and led businesses to tap into opportunities offered by technology adaptation, so as to enable their businesses to thrive in a digital world one business at a time.
