By Sandra Agyeiwaa OTOO
Charlotte Amanquah, Regional Head, Commercial Banking – Anglophone West Africa, Ecobank Ghana, has underscored the bank’s commitment to empowering women at various stages of business development.
She made these remarks at the recently concluded 2025 Women in Business Dialogue Series, themed ‘Creating an inclusive economy: scaling jobs for women through agribusiness and technology’. The event formed part of Ecobank’s broader commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs in Ghana with both financial and non-financial interventions to help their businesses grow.
Mrs. Amanquah emphasised that women in business form the majority in Ghana and increasing support for them will have far-reaching impacts, benefiiting stakeholders across the country.
“As we’ve discussed in various ways today, women in business are the majority in this country and the more we support them, the more we know that it will contribute to and impact a wider range of people or stakeholders within Ghana,” she stated.
She highlighted Ecobank’s recently launched Enhanced Expanded Elevate Programme, which is designed to provide tailored support for women at all stages of business development. The initiative supports women starting new businesses, those managing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and women in executive roles who are mentoring emerging entrepreneurs.
“So for us in Ecobank, we believe that our role as a key bank – the top bank in this country – is to also support both financially and on the non-financial side. About a week ago, we launched our Enhanced Expanded Elevate Programme so that we can reach women at various stages of development – right from unregistered individuals to when they are registered and running SMEs and for those in executive roles who want to share their knowledge and mentor up-and-coming entrepreneurs,” she said.
Mrs. Amanquah noted that for startups Ecobank provides guidance on business structuring, regulatory compliance, taxation, bookkeeping and succession-planning. At the mid-size level, women entrepreneurs can access preferential financing – including collateral-free loans at low interest rates – to help them scale their operations.
“Women who are now starting need a full range of support to build capacity and understand what it is that they are doing; the different stages, the different stakeholders, being compliant with regulations and tax, keeping proper books and understanding the importance of succession-planning so that the business can thrive even in the absence of its founder,” she explained.
“And when they reach the mid-size level, we are able to support them with preferential financing rates to help the business grow to the next level. At Ecobank, we are particularly excited about our Elevate Programme which offers businesswomen support through collateral-free lending at very low rates across various sectors,” she added.
Mrs. Amanquah further pointed out that agribusiness remains a key focus for the bank, with affordable financing provided to women engaged in processing, aggregation and input supply. For larger businesses, Ecobank offers structured trade support and access to new markets.
Through its continued focus on financial inclusion and capacity building, Ecobank is creating new opportunities for women in business – contributing to a stronger and more inclusive economy.
