92 percent of women businesses have never exported – research

By Odilia NTIAMOAH 

Findings of a research to be released as part of this year’s International Women’s Day by Oxford Africa Women Leadership Institute (OAWLI), an enterprise support organisation, indicates that less than 20 percent of women-led businesses in Ghana have ever exported.

The launch of the research will be at the British Council on March 5, 2024 and will be outdoored by the Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, Simone Giger.

From the research, only 9 percent – 31 out of 386 respondents – have exported so far. 13 out of the 31 had no export certificates, and 9 have certificates from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority.

This means close to 50 percent of those who had exported before sent their items through family and friends. With an alarming 92 percent – 355 respondents – having no export experience, the research inquired if they were well aware of the required certifications needed to export in the future. Only 20 percent – 71 out of the 355 respondents – were aware. 78 percent – 260 out of the 355 respondents – were not remotely aware of the required certifications, with 6 percent – 22 out of 355 respondents – unsure if they knew about the required certificates or not.

Through the data collected, it was proven that 58 percent – 207 out of 235 respondents – with no export experience were well aware of AfCFTA. 39 percent – 139 out of 335 respondents – had no idea about it, with roughly 3 percent – 9 out of 395 respondents – being unsure of what AfCFTA actually is.

Conclusions are that there is a need to improve upon export readiness for women-led businesses within the SME space. There is also the need for some level of stratification to define clearly who is export-ready and what they require to actually export as part of efforts to deliberately promote export in Ghana to improve upon the balance of payment and the country’s over reliance on oil revenue.

Looking at the fact that the SME sector of the economy contributes majorly to economic activities and women form more than 44 percent of that population, women-owned businesses will require the needed support.

Though there are government efforts, it will take the female-led businesses also to personally seek the required information to be export-ready. There will be a need to support export certification from GEPA, PPRSD, FDA and GSA since more than 90 percent of the respondents had no export certification.

Business transactions of respondents that went through digital channels

Respondents were asked to indicate the percentage range in which their business transactions or sales were facilitated through digital platforms or online channels. 138 respondents had between 0 to 30 percent of their business transactions through digital channels, 138 respondents had 40 percent to 70 percent of their business transactions through digital channels and 102 respondents had 70 to 100 percent of their business transactions through such channels. 8 respondents chose not to respond to this question.

Technology’s impact on respondents’ business reach

27 gave no response to this inquiry, 137 respondents reported a 0 to 30 percent increase in business reach, 152 respondents reported a 40 to 70 percent increase in business reach due to the impact of technology, and 70 respondents reported a 70 to 100 percent increase of business reach due to the impact of technology

Respondent’s usage of digital marketing

The respondents were asked to indicate how often they used digital marketing for their business operations to enable the researchers to understand their use of technology for optimising business efficiency. 225 out of the 386 respondents used digital marketing frequently, 144 respondents used digital marketing rarely and 13 respondents had never used digital marketing. 8 respondents chose not to answer.

Women-led businesses prefer Instagram 

The respondents preferred digital channels for online marketing. We also solicited to understand the most preferred social media platform among respondents. Instagram emerged as the most used by 166 out of the 386 respondents while 152 respondents out of 386 respondents used Facebook, 33 respondents declined to respond, 24 respondents used TikTok, 8 used LinkedIn, 2 used Twitter and 1 respondent used Snapchat.

Research method

This study used a quantitative sampling technique to provide a full understanding of the topic. Our cornerstone is the collecting of quantitative data, which offers a solid platform on which to construct understanding.

Key quantitative information, ranging from financial limits and market access limitations to demographics and business performance, is revealed through a representative survey given to a varied sample of women businessowners from the Sheconomy Africa project, and the research was conducted using questionnaires.

Conclusions on technology and recommendations

Women-led businesses need a lot of technological support for their business processes since they understand the need for digital media for marketing.

By deduction, any business targeting women-owned businesses should be looking at Instagram as the best digital media channel.

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