National Export Development Strategy to support women, youth in export

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has announced plans to increase the participation of women and young people in the value chain of non-traditional exports (NTEs) under the newly-launched National Export Development Strategy (NEDS), an initiative being championed by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA).

The NEDS’ strategy on gender, youth and disability, is intended to deliberately focus on expanding opportunities for women, young people and persons with disabilities (PWDs).

In furtherance of the agenda, NEDS will embark on statistical data collection and analysis of female-owned enterprises in export, and promote measures that will enhance women’s product associations to facilitate their access to resources and special interventions.

NEDS will also champion advocacy for women’s access to resources such as land and working capital, and coordinate with other government bodies to promote policies that favour women’s participation in the export of NTEs.

For persons with disabilities, NEDS will offer resources for skills training and reserve a specific number of jobs in programmes such as 1D1F, PERD, DIJWC, PFJ as well as other NEDS-specific projects.

Financial assistance will also be given to PWDs to develop their own enterprises while parents and caregivers providing care for severe cases of PWDs will also be offered job opportunities.

The NEDS Youth in Export Strategy includes the upgrading and geographical extension of the Ghana Export School to cover more regions and districts in the country, and strengthening of collaboration with the Ministry of Business Development to promote export business culture among the youth.

Other interventions include the implementation of programmes to link young people with opportunities for entrepreneurial skills training in the export business through initiatives such as the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) and MASLOC.

The goal of the National Export Development Strategy is to accelerate the production of NTEs to achieve a substantial increase in manufactured goods and services components of the nation’s exports, with a projected aggregate revenue target of at least 25 billion USD by the year 2030.

NEDS focuses on 17 main products which include: processed cocoa, cashew, horticultural products, processed oil seeds, fish and fishery products, textiles garments and apparel, natural rubber sheets, and aluminium products.

The remaining are: pharmaceutical products, services, iron/steel products, articles of plastic and other petrochemical products, automobiles and vehicles, industrial salt, machinery and components, industrial starch, and sugar.