Yirkasa Social Enterprise Empowers Women Enterpreneurs In Nandom Municipality

YIRKASA - a social enterprise group through funding from both local and international donor partners have supported some local women entrepreneurs with start-up capital to enable them pursue their business plans.

For local women entrepreneurs in Piiri, a community in Nandom Municipality of the Upper West Region the support might offer a path to financial independence and greater equality.

The project seeks to support the women entrepreneurs with the goal to improve the financial and social position of women through harnessing their knowledge and skills in agro-ecology and local food processing in the production of local food commodities such as dawadawa, shea butter and other organic foods for consumption.

The first batch of 30 women would each receive a cash amount as startup capital according to Pigru Freda, founder of YIRKASA and staff of CIKOD (Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development) who made the disclosure at a ceremony to outdoor the enterprise at Piiri.

“We have been able to mobilize some funding and we intend to provide the women with Five Hundred Ghana Cedis each that would be split into halves to use the first half to invest directly into their food processing and the other to create a cooperative investment source for them,” She remarked.

She added that the selected women had previously benefited from capacity building training on food processing under hygienic conditions, packaging and marketing strategies.

Miss Freda chronicled a number of initiatives the social enterprise intends to undertake including mobilizing funds and resources to build a processing centre for the women and helping them to register their businesses and access funding.

She stated that the primary objectives of the YIRKASA social enterprise are to improve household nutritional needs and empower women through indigenous innovations.

She stated further that the enterprise would also foster unity and economic benefits for the women and their families.

The Head of Business Advisory Centre in Nandom Jamaldeen Mohammed explained that his outfit is mandated to provide business advisory services to businesses in the municipality. He pledged support for the local entrepreneurs in facilitating the approval of their products by the Food and Drugs Authority also get their businesses registered through the Business Advisory Center.

Medical Superintendent at the St. Theresah’s Hospital in Nandom, Dr. Yidaana David emphasized the importance of consuming local food products as it contains much nutritional value which is beneficial to human health. He indicated that our forefathers lived healthier and longer because of the local foods they consumed. Dr. Yo Dana therefore admonished patrons to be wary of the many junky food products that have infiltrated our markets which when consumed causes hypertension, diabetes and other diseases.

This project implemented by YIRKASA SOCIAL ENTERPRISE in investing and empowering women may help to promote the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal five(5) which challenges the world to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

This clarion call by the United Nations does not only seek to ensure that women enjoy equal rights but the investment and empowerment of women unlocks a flood of potential for the whole world. Women are a secret weapon in the fight against global poverty. They have the potential to improve livelihood, economic outputs, productivity and human life itself.

As former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan famously said, “promoting gender equality is not only women’s responsibility - it’s the responsibility of all of us”. And rightly so, the YIRKASA Social Enterprise makes a positive move in that regard.