AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine is educating women in its operational areas in basic financial management under a Financial Literacy Awareness Program.

Sixty women engaged in different businesses within the operating enclave of the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine have so far benefited from the training in financial management to better the fortunes of their businesses.

The two-day monthly training is aimed at helping boost the financial performance of their businesses but largely to enhance the growth of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Obuasi enclave.

The training program is targeted at empowering more than 400 women by the end of 2022 with the knowledge of managing their finances and taking the right financial decisions for their businesses.

According to the Social Development and Gender Superintendent of AngloGold Ashanti, Mavis Nana Yaa Kyei, strengthening the competencies of women in all sectors of the economy is critical to ensuring inclusive developments and making the communities where AGA operate better off.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the graduation of the first cohort of 60 women in Obuasi.

"...the mining company sees women as a group who needs to be empowered to attain especially economic equity in society."

"Once you want to empower women, you just don't have to empower them socially but economically to enable them make definitive decisions about their finances to ensure sustainable business growth ".

The women also received training that will equip them to build their banking and bookkeeping skills.

The Process

The selection process was done through Mine's Enterprise Development and Skills Development Program.

Mrs Kyei revealed that out of the 200 applications received, less than 20 % were women.

The majority of them had limited documentation on their inflows and outflows which denied them an opportunity to be part of the Business Development Program.

One of the participants, Madam Vivian Elsie Obeng, lauded AngloGold Ashanti for the training opportunity.

"... the program has been an eye-opener and will enable me to depart the old ways of doing business without keeping proper records.

" it has always been my aim as a distributor of bottled water to work with big institutions like AGA. With the knowledge gained in bookkeeping and how to invest for the future, I will be well placed to work with them hopefully".

Madam Cynthia Mba who is physically challenged admonished women in Obuasi, regardless of their situation to take advantage of the program to boost their businesses.

The training program was organised by AGAG and implemented by Invest in Africa.

Mrs Kyei, meanwhile, affirmed that the program will run on a monthly basis.

The training will capture areas such as Financial Planning and Financial decision making for micro/small businesses, Manual Book-Keeping, Calculation skills-using a calculator for transactions, Building a positive banking habit and Knowledge of the types of Accounts available to micro-businesses (savings, current, fixed deposit).