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The Mastercard Foundation launched the BRIDGE-in Agriculture program, a collaborative initiative with CrossBoundary Advisory aimed at empowering young women and men in Ghana's agricultural sector. The program, which began in June 2023, sought to unlock finance for youth-led agribusinesses and build entrepreneurship capacity among young people. According to Gottfried Odamtten-Sowah, Head of Entrepreneurship and Acting Head of Country Programs at the Mastercard Foundation, the program was built on a simple yet powerful idea that young people could thrive in agriculture if given the right tools, training, access to finance, market linkages, and technology. The initiative had already made a significant impact, unlocking work opportunities for approximately 85,000 young women and men, and was aligned with the Mastercard Foundation's Pan-African ambition of providing 30 million young Africans with fulfilling work by 2030, including 3 million in Ghana, with 70% being young women.
Ms. Allswell Abankwa, Assistant Director and Head of the Climate and Sustainability Office at the Bank of Ghana, said that the regulator had launched several initiatives to support the agricultural sector, including the Ghana Sustainable Budget Principles and a comprehensive 10-point strategic plan that guided its initiatives and policies over the next four years. The bank had also released a climate-related financial risk directive and published guidelines to ensure robust banking practices that supported critical sectors of the economy, including agriculture. The Bank of Ghana had been supporting tools such as blended finance, guarantees, and impact-based lending to unlock finance for agri-estates. Additionally, the Bank of Ghana encouraged banks to set up dedicated desks for women at their various branches and proposed the nomination of Women Customer Champions to serve as focal points for financial products and services tailored specifically to women.
Fanta Conde, Managing Director of CrossBoundary Advisory and lead for the Bridging Agriculture Program, expressed her gratitude to the Mastercard Foundation for entrusting CrossBoundary Advisory to lead the consortium implementing the program. The program had made significant progress since its launch in 2023, impacting approximately 86,000 young people, with 59% being women and 1.49% persons with disabilities. It had disbursed $11.6 million in loans to 72 SMEs in agriculture and adjacent sectors, trained over 22,000 young people, and disbursed over $87,000 in grants to young entrepreneurs. The goal was to achieve a bold target of impacting 400,000 young people, with 70% being women and 5% persons with disabilities. Fanta Conde emphasized the importance of intentionality in lending for impact, leadership alignment, regulatory support, and understanding the different value chains within agriculture to effectively impact young women.
The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Honorable John Dumelo, said that the initiative aligned with the Ministry's agenda under the Food and Feed Ghana programme, aimed at boosting productivity and food systems resilience. With agriculture having employed 40% of the workforce and supporting 75% of rural populations, this program addressed key challenges like limited finance and infrastructure. He added that by allocating $87 million to support agribusinesses, especially those led by women and youth, at interest rates not exceeding 7%, they aimed to impact over 400,000 youth, with 70% being women. He commended the Mastercard Foundation for their commitment to creating dignified employment for young people and called for collaboration to make Ghana's agricultural sector prosperous. The initiative was supported by First National Bank, Ecobank, Zenith Bank, Stanbic Bank, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, Peswa, Mind Builders Africa and Accra Skills Hub.
