Opportunity International Canada

Published purpose

The project aims to increase employment, especially for women, in growth-oriented and employment generating value chains in Ghana. To do so, it seeks to improve access to formal financial services, with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), women small business owners, and vulnerable groups. The project supports technical assistance and training to improve the capacity of savings and loans institution, Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans, to provide more affordable capital and a wider range of more inclusive and gender sensitive services to small SMEs and microfinance beneficiaries. The project also seeks to create business-to-business linkages and networking opportunities to empower women entrepreneurs to innovate and grow their businesses, in a view to strengthen inclusive economic growth. Key project activities include: (1) providing financial literacy and business training to women entrepreneurs; (2) providing support for trade fairs and exhibitions to promote networking; (3) organizing campaigns to raise awareness on financial services available and the socio-economic gender barriers to women and business; (4) performing sectoral analysis and research; and (5) training local partners to better undertake institutional assessments and client surveys using a gender-based approach.