Empowering women in agricultural trade through access to finance

When Patience Kpiniong, from the Northern Region of Ghana, first started her business, Modern Star Shea, she knew she was sitting on what she calls a “gold mine” in Ghana’s shea butter industry. But like many women in agriculture, she faced formidable challenges—chief among them, accessing finance and formal markets that could help her expand her business. Patience joined over 45 women at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for Africa in Accra recently for a two-day intensive training on business management and access to finance, organized by FAO in collaboration with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the International Trade Centre (ITC). The training was a boost for the women agripreneurs striving to build sustainable agri-businesses across Africa.

“I hope to become an international company leading in the production of certified organic shea butter,” Patience said during a break in the training. She expressed gratitude for the “eye-opening” insights into structuring her business to attract investors. "Coming for the trainings, it has opened our eyes to really put our books in order,” she said, reflecting on the value of record-keeping practices that align with investor expectations, a skill she emphasized as pivotal for her business’ future.

Bridging gaps in agricultural trade for women

In 2021, FAO launched the programme Empowering Women in Agriculture Trade (EWAT) with the ambition of ensuring the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) creates equitable opportunities for women in agriculture.  

With a focus an addressing gender inequalities in trade and access to financial services, the EWAT programme provided skills training, peer-to-peer learning, policy advocacy, and financing solutions to help women thrive in agrifood systems.

At its core, the EWAT programme aimed to tackle pressing issues facing women in agriculture, from limited access to productive resources and capital to the lack of training and market information. With women comprising nearly 70 percent of informal traders in Sub-Saharan Africa, programmes such as EWAT are vital in helping to level the playing field for women agripreneurs.

Building on the results achieved by the EWAT programme, the FAO Africa Gender Unit has continued to work to address inequalities in access to financial services for women agriprenerus in the region through mentorship, skills development and disbursement of small grants. According to Prince Oppong, FAO Agribusiness and Access to Finance specialist, this work seeks to empower women by helping them become “investment-ready”, facilitating their access to finance and equipping them with the skills to market their value proposition to customers and potential investors. “It’s been amazing,” he said of the energy from the participants, underscoring their eagerness to engage deeply with the material.

Sweet success 

One of the many success stories from the training is that of Faustina Ankudey who works for a ‘bean-to-bar’ chocolate company, 57 Chocolates, named after Ghana’s year of independence. For Faustina, the training opened new avenues of thinking about financing. “One thing that really got my attention was...we don’t necessarily have to be only looking for investments of money, we can collaborate with new partners on better processing machines, for example,” she said.

Faustina’s story reflects EWAT’s broader mission: to instill confidence in women and expand their view of what’s possible. By engaging with mentors and peers, she discovered innovative strategies to overcome obstacles and continue scaling her business despite financial constraints.

Erica Adjoa Appiah co-runs an agritech business specializing in rice threshers and bio-charcoal made from threshing waste. She spoke highly of the finance training, and of her previous experience under the EWAT programme, saying that her participation has been instrumental in helping her organize her business operations and prepare for larger investments. “The mentorship aspect has been the icing on the cake for us,” she said, describing how customized support helped her navigate the complexities of her agribusiness.

Francesca Distefano, Gender and Policy Expert at the FAO Regional Office for Africa and former EWAT Coordinator, added that “by helping these women succeed, the EWAT programme enriched communities, created jobs and contributed to food security”. For Francesca, the activities building on EWAT’s results have the ultimate goal of making  women “viable players and agents of change” in the agrifood market within the new trade environment established by the roll out of the AfCFTA, empowering them to overcome gender inequalities that result in their financial exclusion.

Francesca and Prince believe that this is a pivotal time for women in agriculture, with the AfCFTA setting the stage for unprecedented opportunities in trade which women agripreneurs in Africa can leverage on.

FAO continues to drive efforts to ensure that African women agripreneurs are not only included in economic activities but are empowered to lead and innovate within their sectors. By equipping women with the skills and confidence to take on new trade opportunities, FAO reaffirms the commitment to fostering gender equality and sustainable development across Africa.