President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that preparations for the establishment of a Women’s Bank are at an advanced stage. He explained that Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, who is leading the initiative, has made significant progress and will soon present the bank’s structure and objectives to cabinet for approval.
The announcement was made during the official launch of the Sheapark Resource Hub Project at the Wa Naa’s Palace in Wa, Upper West Region. President Mahama highlighted that the bank would provide support to women entrepreneurs, particularly in northern Ghana, where the shea industry remains a key livelihood for many women.
“In the Upper West Region, the Women’s Bank will focus on mothers involved in the shea nut industry,” he stated. The initiative is championed by Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin and Professor Kwame Addo, as part of government efforts to strengthen the shea sector through value addition.
The President noted that during shea nut picking seasons, women would be given small credits to enable them to collect nuts efficiently. The facility would also allow cooperatives to hire tricycles to transport women into the bush and bring back shea nuts, reducing the burden of carrying heavy loads manually.
He emphasized that women are not just beneficiaries but the foundation of the initiative, given their central role in the shea industry over the years. To support them, the government has already provided 3,000 pairs of Wellington boots and 3,200 gloves, protecting women from snake and scorpion bites during harvesting.
The Sheapark Hub is envisioned as a world-class agro-industrial ecosystem built on sustainability, innovation, and inclusion. It will feature modern shea processing facilities for cosmetics, food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical products, alongside quality control labs, training centers, storage, logistics, market access services, solar energy solutions, water treatment plants, business incubation, cooperative aggregation, and export facilitation.
Once fully operational, the Sheapark ecosystem is expected to empower over 7,000 women in the Upper West Region and create thousands of youth employment opportunities. The Hub will also support value chains for groundnuts, soybeans, sorghum, dawadawa, cotton, and honey, in addition to shea.
President Mahama emphasized that the project aligns with the government’s Reset Agenda, which focuses on value addition before export. This initiative will extend to several key commodities nationwide, including shea nuts, cashews, cotton, cassava, oil palm, and minerals.
