What do you get when eight influential women in Corporate Ghana spend sixty minutes in the same room with eight self-driven, forward-looking, passionate, young and energetic female entrepreneurs who are solving pertinent societal challenges across Ghana? The answer? A power-packed session where women inspire the next generation of leaders to achieve more in the world of business and beyond.

To foster mentorship and networking among women from different industries, Standard Chartered organised an Afternoon Tea Session on International Women’s Day, which fell on Friday, March 8, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra.

It was aimed at providing an avenue for young women to engage accomplished business and corporate icons to glean useful lifetime business and personal lessons. Each of the invited participants was selected from Standard Chartered’s Women in Tech (WiT) alumni.

The Afternoon Tea Session was hosted by Mansa Nettey (CEO of Standard Chartered) with key attendees being Elsie Addo Awadzi (2nd Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana), Naa Adorkor Codjoe (Independent Non-Executive Director, Standard Chartered), Patricia Obo-Nai (CEO, Telecel Ghana), Ayesha Bedwei (Partner, PWC), Cynthia Lumor (Deputy MD, Tullow Ghana Ltd), Georgette B. Sakyi-Addo (CEO of Georgette B. Sakyi-Addo), and Jemima Kotei Walsh (Director, MTN Customer Service).  

Within the one-hour interaction, each of the accomplished business leaders who have been through the mill, seen the highs and the lows, and continues to make a tremendous impact across their organisations and chosen fields shared invaluable life and business lessons with the WiT alumni. In a very informal and relaxed setting, the business leaders engaged the ambitious young ladies and answered their pressing questions.

Selected from a broad cross-section of economic activity, the participants were Yaa Birago (Soko Bags), Ida Na-Tei (CTN Technologies), Umar Farouk Mubaraka (Kodu Technology), Lucie Blay (Legal Find), Laura Pepera (VirTutor Online), Anarporka Adazabra (Farmio Limited), Aurelia Turkson (Lizlia Fashion), and Hannah Aidoo (H.A. Farms).

The young entrepreneurs have hailed the initiative, labelling it as one of the most empowering sessions in their career journeys. They intimated similar commitments by business leaders would go a long way to positively impact a lot more start-ups and entrepreneurs which would have a ripple impact on job creation and economic growth.

Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC launched the Standard Chartered Women in Tech (WiT) programme in 2020. This incubator programme was set up to support female-led entrepreneurial teams with business management training, mentoring and seed funding.

This incubator programme, through the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC), is aimed at supporting female-led businesses driven by technology and innovation in response to the growing demand to increase diversity in tech. The bank aims to create more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership expertise.

In the words of Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” With over 200 years of combined experience, there were more than enough invaluable insights to share.

The theme for IWD 2024 was “Inspiring inclusion” and we believe that Standard Chartered is playing a role in creating a more inclusive workplace where women not only have a place and voice at the table but can also thrive in their entrepreneurial ambitions.