ECOWAS wants to promote the advent of female entrepreneurship

In West Africa there are very few women-run businesses. But this is more noticeable in the energy sector and more particularly in the renewable energy sector.

The ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) organized on Friday, April 13, 2018, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a validation workshop of a pre-feasibility study which should in the long term, foster the emergence of a more dynamic women's entrepreneurship ecosystem in the sub-region.

In West Africa there are very few women-run businesses. But this is more noticeable in the energy sector and more particularly in the renewable energy sector.

To help turn the tide, the ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) in partnership with the African Development Bank and the African Development Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (NEPAD) -IPPF), commissioned a report.

It is called: "Pre-feasibility study on business opportunities for women in a changing energy value chain in West Africa".

On Friday, April 13, 2018, at the ADB headquarters in Abidjan, a validation workshop of the said study brought together women entrepreneurs, donor agencies, and several institutions. The presenter of the Azam Pasha report said that the investigators went to meet 37 women business leaders in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal.

Azam Pasha said that these four countries are leading figures in the field of energy in West Africa and that their experiences can be extended to other countries. The rapporteurs finally focused on business opportunities for 16 of them.

The study found that most women-run businesses lack the financial expertise to pack and sell their business ideas to investors and private funds.

In addition, they do not have tangible guarantees to access credits. According to Azam Pasha, to succeed in the energy sector, women must take seriously five megatrends.

First, there are the technological breakthroughs that are going on in the future, pulling the monopoly of energy supply from centralized systems to offer it to a much more interactive, but also decentralized and fragmented system.

Mr. Pasha also noted the phenomenon of climate change and the increasing scarcity of resources, which makes it necessary to move towards environmentally friendly energies.

The presenter also noted rapid population growth and urbanization within the ECOWAS region. What constitutes for him, a huge market opportunity. Finally, he stressed that the dynamism and the average economic growth of more than 5% per year of the ECOWAS area, command a greater availability of energy as a production input.

At the end of the presentation, the rapporteurs selected four projects that will benefit from the upcoming months of a feasibility study and an investor conference.

This is in Nigeria, the liquefied gas distribution project and in Côte d'Ivoire, the identification and development of intelligent applications for energy consumers.

In Senegal, it will be about producing clean energy from mini and micro-grids. Finally, in Ghana, the project selected is the supply of solar electricity and distribution of solar lighting products.

The CEO of Burkinabè Farafina ECO, Kadidia Simboro, has invited women to enter the renewable energy and energy efficiency sector, considering the many opportunities that are there.

According to Ms. Simboro, who is also the general secretary of the Association of Renewable Energy Professionals, business leaders are more inclined to understand the energy needs of women, who are, by the way, the most numerous consumers. 

It should be noted that before the validation workshop of the pre-feasibility study, the ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) exhibited on Thursday, April 12, 2018, its missions and its programs to French-speaking journalists of the subregion.

Bah FM Saho, representing the Executive Director of ECREEE Mahama Kappiah, invited the media to participate in the fight his body is fighting against "energy insecurity" and "energy poverty".

He also mentioned the importance of women in the renewable energy sector because they are the first to suffer from the "energy chore".