Ghana's Women's Development Bank Draws Comparison with Japan Fund

• Ghana is set to establish its Women’s Development Bank (WDB)
• The project is being likened to Japan’s WPower Fund I
• The similarity is based on the need to apply gender investment models in varying economies

As the Women’s Development Bank in Ghana is poised to take off, there have been observations of similarities with the newly formed WPower Fund I in Japan.

This has led to speculations on whether Ghana can borrow strategies for women-focused investments from developed countries and apply them in the informal economy of West Africa.

The observation is based on a common problem. In Ghana, women head 44.6 percent of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), but they still have poor access to credit. This problem is one of the major economic agendas of President John Mahama.

In the budget of 2026, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson has proposed a GH₵401 million capital allocation for the WDB. This is after the GH₵51.3 million seed money allocation in 2025. The bank will be used to mobilize private sector funds and promote inclusive growth in all 16 regions of the country.

In the Japanese case, the problem manifests in a different guise. While women represent a significant proportion of startup entrepreneurs, they receive no more than 2 percent of the venture capital allocated to female-led startups.

This situation gave rise to the establishment of WPower Fund I, the first venture capital fund in Japan to exclusively target women entrepreneurs.

The fund is backed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and a number of corporate and financial partners, aiming to raise a maximum of eight billion yen in capital commitments.

Although the two initiatives differ in terms of their organizational structure, they share a common approach. The WDB in the Ghanaian case is structured as a public development bank that offers concessional loans to women who are mainly operating in the informal economy.

Kathy Matsui, a co-founding general partner of WPower Fund I, has stated that “just access to capital is not enough” and that “mentoring, networking, and institutional support” are also necessary for business development.

This strategy is incorporated into the Ghana WDB model, which intends to provide loans at interest rates below the commercial standard in addition to financial education, technology, and advice.

It is observed that the most important issue for the Ghanaian government will be the effective implementation of the strategy. Previous programs, including the Development Bank Ghana, failed to meet the lending targets for women because of the lack of monitoring.

To overcome this issue, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection is expected to establish gender-disaggregated reporting systems, aiming to increase lending to female MSMEs by 20 percent by 2027.