“I was working for a tour operating business where I observed how whenever a group of tourists arrived they wanted African wares. After the firm folded, I decided to go into the business of selling African wares as souvenirs full-time. I got credit from a dressmaker to start my business. I displayed the wares on a small table outside the Cape Coast Castle. Now I can boast of two shops.”
This story of Awo, a souvenir trader, typifies how women-owned small tourism businesses in Ghana are collaborating to start, nurture and sustain themselves. The support they give each other is moral as well as material, and extends to formal professional associations that can give the women access to funding from international agencies.
Tourism supports small firms because it has low entry costs. This means that even if a woman has only a limited amount of capital and limited skills, she can still establish her own business. Nonetheless, many encounter difficulties even in raising the minimum capital to start. What Awo’s story reveals is how leveraging ties with a fellow woman entrepreneur can make all the difference for aspiring women entrepreneurs.
