CONFERENCE TO HELP WOMEN HELD IN TWIN-CITY (PAGE 29)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

A roundtable conference to help women to improve upon their business ideas has been held in the twin-city of Sekondi-Takoradi.
The objectives of the conference were to equip the women with the skills to improve on their businesses and to give them the ability to create and retain wealth to ensure that they are not overtaken by avoidable occurrences that they might face in their daily business activities.
It was also to equip the women, especially the professional women, with skills on quality service delivery, as well as how to maximise profit.
The conference was organised by the Cultural Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Accra in collaboration with the Western Regional office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on the theme: “Business Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs and Professional Women – Investing in Women and Girls.”
Dr Yvette E. Taylor-Hachoose, a lawyer and a businesswoman from the US, took the participants through the ways of staying ahead in their fields of endeavours, the way to create wealth through positive attitudes to overcome obstacles that might pose a challenge to them in their quest to serve their clients and to maintain their market positions in the high competitive free marketplace, where the consumer is faced with many to choose from.
She asked the women not to just rush into doing business but should research and draw plans that could be subjected to change at any point in time to ensure that they were not limited to countless opportunities.
The lawyer said the contemporary business environment was full of dynamism and one must be prepared to adjust accordingly, instead of being glued to the same old ways of doing business.
She urged the women to be resolute and compassionate, build the integrity of their businesses and also lead a life that would ensure balance in their daily activities, as well as focus on their set goals and how to achieve them.
It came out during discussions that wealth transfer procedure and interstate succession were similar to what pertained in the United States. The women were urged to see the need to protect assets, be at peace with oneself, create legacy and save for investment.
They were also taken through some legal issues bordering on business transaction.
The women were selected from both the formal and informal sectors in the metropolis, and they included proprietresses , state attorneys, businesswomen, private medical practitioners, female heads of institutions and women in the media.
In her remarks, the Western Regional Director of CHRAJ, Nana Yamboah Amoah Sakyi, said it was important that women were given the help to enable them to take bold decisions that would advance their cause.
She said sometimes they knew what to do but did not know how to go about it.
She urged them to take their time to outline their programmes and to ensure that what they were venturing into was economically viable.