This is because a research on women-led business export activities in the country conducted by the organisation revealed that less than 20 per cent of them had ever exported before.

The research report recommends the need for some level of stratification to find clearly businesses which were export ready and what they required to actually export for support as part of efforts to deliberately promote export in the country.

It said “Looking at the fact that the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector of the economy contributes majorly to economic activities and women forming more than 44 per cent of that population, women-owned businesses will require the needed support,” OAWLI indicated.

The research data is expected to be launched on March 5 this year by the Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, Simone Giger. 

Data analysis

From the research, only 31 out of 386 respondents representing nine per cent have exported so far, with 13 of the 31 having no export certificates and nine having certificates from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA).

This means that close to 50 per cent of those who had exported before sent their items through family and friends.

“With an alarming 92 per cent that is 355 respondents having no export experience, the research enquired if they were well aware of the required certifications needed to export in the future.

Only 20 per cent (71 out of the 355 respondents) were aware and 78 per cent (260 out of the 355 respondents) were not remotely aware of the required certifications with six per cent (22 out of 355 respondents) unsure if they knew about the required certificates or not,” it explained.

“There will be the need to support with export certification from GEPA, Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), since more than 90 per cent of the respondents had no export certification,” it further suggested.

Again through the data collected, it was proven that the 58 per cent, that is 207 out of 235 respondents, with no export experience, were well aware of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA) while 39 per cent, that is 139 out of 335 respondents, had no idea about it and three per cent, that is nine out of 395 respondents, being unsure of what AFCTA actually was.