Sankofa Innovation Brings Together Women SMEs & Industry Leaders

• Sankofa Innovation Summit hosted by Duafe Organisation in partnership with SB Incubator
• The Summit hosted women-led SMEs, industry leaders, founders, and ecosystem builders
• The Summit was centered on learning, discussions, and networking

The Sankofa Innovation Summit hosted by the Duafe Organisation in partnership with the SB Incubator aimed at providing a day full of educational opportunities to women-owned and operated small-to-medium sized companies, their supporting community members and others in leadership positions in related industries.

The summit provided the opportunity for all stakeholders to have real live experiences with each of the systems/structures/decision-making processes and engage in making them work together to produce a sustainable and successful business.

The General Session hosted by Baaba Berima-Kwao (Executive Director of Duafe) focused on intentionally growing a woman-owned business; the importance of having equal access to all available institutions and resources and building a community around a woman-owned business.

The focus was on creating alignment between your content, your audience and your conversion in order to drive measurable outcomes for your business versus thinking of social media only as a tool to extend your reach.

During this session, the panelists shared their thoughts on how institutions can provide support to early-stage and scaling organisations in terms of access to financing, facilitating networks with operational and supply chain vendors, and providing education/professional development for entrepreneurs.

They also discussed investment readiness and how financial institutions, ecosystem organisations, and strategic partners can help scale sustainable woman-owned SMEs. Panelists provided pointers for how entrepreneurs can have more engaged relationships with banks, support organisations, and long-term partners.

The Summit represents one step closer to developing the Ghanaian female-led small business ecosystem with an emphasis on the importance of establishing an appropriate structure, engaging with institutions, and fostering a community as the three key components to enable businesses to grow over time.