Over 200 women in the vocational sector, comprising fashion designers, cosmetologists, caterers, formulators, bead makers and other trades were formally received into the membership of the NETWET.

NETWET is a group of skilled professionals such as fashion designers, cosmologists and caterers formed under the auspices of the VTF Programme, a not-for-profit organisation, some 10 years ago.

The aim is to become the voice for articulating women's employment issues and advocate for an enabling environment to promote women-led businesses in the informal sector.

Ms Linda Agyei, Director of the VTF programme, noted that the role of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries like Ghana could not be over-emphasized.

These small-scale enterprises had been recognized as the potential sources of employment and engines through which rapid industrialization and other developmental goals of developing countries could be realized.

She said it was against that background that the NETWET was established to offer demand-driven interventions which addressed the challenges that women entrepreneurs face in their businesses and quest to succeed.

Ms Agyei urged the members of the Network to remain resolute so that together they would overcome the barriers which hinder small-scale businesses in the informal sector from growing and advised them to learn from each other as a support base.

Rev. Prof. B. I. Adu-Okoree, Dean of the Faculty of Development Studies at Presbyterian University, Ghana, admonished the members to take advantage of every opportunity to upgrade their skills and knowledge to be abreast with the changes in the industry.

Speaking on the theme "The Empowered Woman - A Catalyst for National Development" he submitted that empowered women had control over their lives, were economically, socially, and politically engaged, and capable of making decisions that affected their well-being.
He told them that empowered women played a significant role in national development and made a biblical allusion from Genesis 2:18 pointing to the need for women to work themselves up to the top.

Madam Comfort Asante, a former District Chief Executive and Chairperson of the occasion urged the members to uphold the importance of the network as offering opportunities for business growth through experience sharing and skills upgrades.

She charged them to set good examples as role models and employ innovative ways of improving their work.

Mrs. Diana Appiah, interim National President of NETWET, encouraged the leadership and members alike to eschew bitterness and rather focused on their quest to remove the constraints and barriers preventing women's rise to the top. Mrs. Comfort Akrofi-Yanney, a Fashion Designer and member of the VTF Board tasked the members not to relent in their efforts to embrace all odds to make it to the top.