Executives of Women in Business and Tourism has paid a Courtesy Call on the Minister of Tourism, Creative Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, to welcome her to her new role as the sector Minister.
The Executive team was led by the President of Women in Business and Tourism Miss Eunice Ogbugo, the Vice President, Pamella Matondo, Secretary,Olivia Adomako Mensah,Treasurer,Delphine brew hammond, Organiser, Brandina Djagba, as well as Media and Publicity, Eunice Afari.
Aside the congratulatory messages to Madam Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, the Executives informed the Minister of their plans to officially launch the Women in Business and Tourism Ghana Chapter and West Africa or ECOWAS Chapter in Ghana on the 28th of June 2019.
They also used the opportunity to request the presence of the Minister to give a keynote address as her Ministry is one of the umbrella ministries they fall under or work hand in hand with.
During their interactions, the President on behalf of the Group mentioned to the Tourism Minister their plans to have a United front as African Business Women by connecting with Women from all across Africa such as in the SADC region ( Southern Africa), ECOWAS region( West Africa), Sahel Sahara Region( North Africa), Eastern African Community ( East Africa) and Economic Community of Central Africa States( ECCAS).
This they plan on doing by launching the Group in these 5 African Regions starting with West Africa in Ghana on the 28th of June and over the course of the next 4 months, the other regions will be launched and in November during the UNWTO WOMEN IN TOURISM SUMMIT to be held here in Ghana, the Women in Business and Tourism Africa will be launched.
According to Eunice Ogbugo, the main objective of the Group empower women and help more women own various types of businesses, the expansion of existing businesses from small scale to large enterprises, diversification from one business into other businesses or other business sectors or areas, and expansion beyond the borders of our various countries into other Africa Countries.
She added, “This we hope to achieve by organizing our own Tourism and Business/investment programs, and participating in various Tourism and investment programs,forums and conferences worldwide and also networking to obtain partnerships from our fellow African Women for joint ventures,mergers and investments all across Africa and even beyond into other continents.”
On her part, the Minister expressed appreciation to the Group for reaching out to her.
She indicated her preparedness to work with them as Women Group in the Industry while making emphasis of the important role women play in the Tourism value chain.
Madam Oteng-Gyasi lauded the group for connecting with other Women Groups in the other African Countries like South Africa, Angola, Botswana.
Tourism as the fourth foreign exchange for the country has the potential through women to create jobs and employment which are some of the big issues being tackled by the government.
Thus, Women in Business and Tourism has also teamed up with other Ministries including the Ministry of Business Development, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.