US Ambassador Asks Female Entrepreneurs to Capitalise on AGOA

With an intent for business expansion globally, Ambassador to Ghana of United State of America (U.S.A) Virginia Evelyn Palmer, called on female entrepreneurs at Academy of Women Entrepreneurs’ (AWE) recent graduation ceremony in Accra. The call was for capitalising on African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Launched in 2000, AGOA is a U.S.A trade programme, aiming towards stimulating economic growth via a duty-free access of more than 1,800 products from eligible African countries. The ambassador emphasised AGOA’s significant benefits in an interview. This benefit provides duty-free access for a wide range of African products to the US market.

She said, “AGOA gives a unique opportunity for Ghanaian entrepreneurs to scale up their businesses and access one of the world’s largest consumer markets, which leads to economic growth.”

Country Lead – AWE-Ghana Dr. Shola Safo-Duah stated that the selection of women in 2024 was specifically focused women entrepreneurs who already have something on their hand but in a requirement of training for business expansion. She added, “Previously, the selection was not limited; we gave opportunities to start-ups and even those who only had ideas and needed the proper advice and training to develop them. But with this year’s selection, we only selected women entrepreneurs who are already operating in the space of 2-3 years.”