Govt Sets Up Gh¢4Million ?Seed Fund for Disabled ?Women Entrepreneurs

By Yaw Kyei

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced the establishment of a GH¢4million fund to support businesses of disabled women entrepreneurs to enable them scale up their businesses and employ more people.

The Presidential Empowerment Programme for Disabled Women Entrepreneurs, which was launched at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday, aims to support women entrepreneurs and help improve the livelihood of disabled women.

Already, GH¢2million has been raised to support 1,000 beneficiaries who will not be required to pay any interest on the amount they will be given to expand their businesses. They will only pay 50 per cent of the principal advanced to them.

Speaking at the launch, President Akufo-Addo said a fund target of GH¢4million had been set over the next two years to support businesses of disabled women entrepreneurs.

"This gesture is part of my government's support to our disabled women entrepreneurs to help them scale up their businesses and employ more people. We anticipate that with the monies being given to them, they will and should be able to employ at least 2 persons each.

"Government is confident that through this initiative, the conditions of our disabled women entrepreneurs can be improved significantly so that they can take advantage of the growing business friendly environment in the country and also take advantage of the numerous opportunities available," he said.

President Akufo-Addo said there were opportunities in flagship programmes such as the One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, and One Village One Dam projects.

He told the leadership of the Ghana Federation of Disability, that no government had supported persons with disability more than his administration.

"Amongst others, we have increased the share of the District Assemblies Common Fund to persons with disabilities from 2 to 3 per cent and we have also ensured the implementation of our pledge to employ 50 per cent of persons who manage the country's toll booths from among persons with disabilities," he said.

The Minister of Business Development, Mohammed Ibrahim Awal, said the beneficiaries had struggled to get support to scale up their businesses and indicated that "under the government of President Akufo-Addo, they have found a partner to support them financially".

He said the only way the country's economy could grow significantly was to create more entrepreneurs and indicated that over the next few months, the ministry would support a lot of disabled women.

"It takes a caring government to identify the needs of disabled persons," he said and commended the President for his being a visionary leader.

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