By Prince J Musa in Kenema.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDA) has started a two-week training program for women entrepreneurs. The training which started last week will focus on small and medium enterprise owners in the east and the southern region of the country.
The training is being conducted in the districts of Kenema, Kailahun and Kono in the East and Bo, Moyamba, Pujehun, and Bonthe in the South.
Giving an overview of the training, the Chief Executive Officer of SMEDA, Siaka Sannoh, said successful entrepreneurs across the world have the power to generate new jobs through the creation and growth of micro-and small businesses. He noted that women can add billions of dollars to the global economy if they are empowered to embark on entrepreneurship.
More than 50% of Sierra Leone’s population are women, representing a huge potential for massive economic growth.
“Women’s participation in entrepreneurship can enhance the expansion of economic goods and simultaneously lead to less inequality. Thus, increasing women’s participation in entrepreneurship necessitates improved access to credit facilities, and investment in sectors with high job-multiplier effects, including Information and Communications, Technology (ICT), manufacturing, agriculture and agro-industries in order to generate employment and spur inclusive growth,” Sannoh said.
Entrepreneurship is difficult for women in Sierra Leone. They face major challenges in the field, one of which is access to capital.
Sannoh said a large part of the informal sector is dominated by women but the key to productivity is to tap into that number by creating more access.
“In Sierra Leone the private sector is characterized by many micro-enterprises; official estimates indicate that only 5 percent of the economic workforce is in paid formal sector. This means that 95 percent of the economy is in the informal sector. Approximately 84 percent of rural women and 63 percent of urban women operate micro-enterprises such as small-scale farming, table-top trading, artisanal mining, and small-scale fishing,” he said.
Sannoh added: “Therefore, empowering women to become not only wage-earners but also job-creators is imperative for achieving the 2030 Agenda and for eradicating poverty.”
The training hopes to give women more experience in managing their businesses and stir them to better growth potentials. SMEDA hopes to increase the chance of women getting capital for their business in the future.
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