DEVELOPING RURAL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS AS A KEY TO POVERTY REDUCTION IN GHANA: THE CASE OF WA MUNICIPALITY
Aliata I. Mumuni
School of Business, Department of Secretaryship and Management Studies, Wa Polytechnic, Wa, Upper West Region.
Baba Insah
School of Business, Department of Secretaryship and Management Studies, Wa Polytechnic, Wa, Upper West Region.
ABSTRACT
Women entrepreneurs play an important role in local economies because many micro-enterprises in developing countries are operated by women. This study therefore sought to examine the effectiveness of steps aimed at developing rural women entrepreneurs and to find out whether women entrepreneurship enhances welfare. Simple random sampling was used to get all elements in the population under study to have equal chance of selection. Questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions were employed in the data collecting process. The research findings revealed that training and financial support for women owned businesses was inadequate. Further, it was established that women entrepreneurship increases welfare and reduces poverty through improved access to healthcare, quality food and clothing as a result of developing rural entrepreneurs. It is therefore recommended that to foster efforts aimed at reducing poverty, education, skills training and credit-access policies should be targeted at women.
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