The Executive Director of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, says technology is key to speeding up the global gender equality agenda.

In a statement to mark International Women's Day, Mrs Yankey-Ayeh said women-owned and led businesses across the globe could use technology to grow, expand and become competitive.

Each year, the International Women's Day (IWD) is held on 8th March to celebrate women's achievements and to call for a coordinated and concerted effort to promote gender balance and equality.

It also brings to the limelight the political, social, economic and cultural issues faced by women and to advocate for the progress of women in all spheres of life.

The NBSSI, the Agency mandated to strengthen and grow the Micro, Small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) Sector with special focus on women-owned/led businesses, joins the millions of women worldwide to mark the 2021 International Women's Day with a focus on challenging women entrepreneurs to strive for survival in the midst of COVID-19.

The statement said the theme of this year's campaign "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world" resonated with NBSSI's focus for the year's celebration.

She noted that COVID-19 had taught the world that digitalisation was the new resilience for every business which desired to survive during the Pandemic.

Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh said tools such as mobile phones, tablets, and cloud-based services could be used to scale up and help women-owned/led businesses to extend their business operations across the globe to compete more effectively.

She noted that this has become necessary as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has commenced and urged all MSME's to take advantage of it.

As part of the celebrations this year, NBSSI is organizing a virtual Seminar and Masterclasses on Tuesday, March 9 on topics such as Governance and Leadership, Risk Management, and Digitalisation, among others which are crucial for the survival and growth of every business in this COVID-19 era.

Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh entreated all women, especially the entrepreneurs to register via the https://nbssi.gov.gh/iwd2021 to participate in the programme.

She wished all women locally and internationally, a memorable celebration and reiterated NBSSI's continuous support towards the development and sustainable growth of the MSME sector in Ghana.

This year's Seminar is being organised in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works and supported by PersoL Systems, Food and Drugs Authority, MTN Ghana and Axis Pension Trust.