The Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Matilda Asante-Asiedu, has called for urgent reforms in the financial sector to improve access to funding for women-led businesses across Africa.
Speaking at the 2026 Ghana Female CEOs Summit held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City under the theme “Women Driving Sustainable Businesses for a Resilient Africa“, Mrs. Asante-Asiedu described women as key contributors to Ghana’s economic transformation.
“Women in Ghana have come a long way. We are no longer mere participants in the economy. We are co-architects of its present and of its future,” she stated.
According to her, women continue to drive economic growth through their contributions to trade, agribusiness and digital enterprises, while also creating jobs and supporting families.
“This growing momentum is proof that women’s leadership is central to our national transformation,” she added.
Citing data from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Deputy Governor disclosed that about 44 percent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana are owned by women.
She also praised Ghana’s progress in financial inclusion, noting that the country currently records one of the highest financial inclusion rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. “The Global Findex Report puts us at 81 percent, driven largely by mobile money expansion and the Bank of Ghana’s interoperability system,” she said.
Despite the progress, Mrs. Asante-Asiedu stressed that access to finance remains a major challenge for women entrepreneurs. “Account ownership alone is the starting point and not the destination. The deeper and more meaningful work is how capital is distributed and made available to women,” she noted.
She further revealed that Africa currently faces a 42-billion-dollar financing gap for women entrepreneurs. “Less than 10 percent of women-led MSMEs have access to formal credit, with the majority relying on susu groups, family and friends,” she said.
According to her, many women-owned businesses fail to expand not because of a lack of ambition, but due to inadequate funding opportunities.
“Every percentage of women left behind is a real woman, a real business and a real idea that never scaled not for want of drive, but for want of capital,” she stressed.
Mrs. Asante-Asiedu also challenged perceptions that women-led businesses are risky to finance, arguing that evidence from financial institutions proves otherwise.
“Available data confirms that women have, on average, better loan repayment rates than men,” she said.
She cited examples from Ghana and Kenya where micro-lending fintech companies targeting women reportedly recorded default rates below two percent.
The Deputy Governor further called for reforms in credit assessment systems, arguing that traditional methods often disadvantage women entrepreneurs.
“Traditional credit scoring was never built with women in mind. It relies on collateral, formal credit history and asset ownership areas where inequality has historically disadvantaged women,” she explained.
She proposed the use of alternative data sources such as mobile money transactions, utility payments and supplier invoices in assessing women-owned businesses.
Mrs. Asante-Asiedu also encouraged financial institutions to design products tailored to the realities of women entrepreneurs instead of relying on generic loan packages.
“What we need are fit-for-purpose financial solutions so that lending to women truly reflects how women do business,” she stated.
She further urged stakeholders within the banking and capital market sectors to develop innovative financing instruments that would unlock more capital for women-led enterprises across the continent.
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