By
Bertha Badu-Agyei, GNA
Koforidua, June 20, GNA – The media has been
called to expose the working conditions of women entrepreneurs to attract the
needed support from government and the private sectors.
Professor Smile Dzisi, Vice Chancellor of the
Koforidua Technical University (KTU), said the media must as part of their
mandate enhance the ability of women entrepreneurs to make their voices heard
by focusing on their economic activities.
She said many women entrepreneurs are working
under harsh and unhygienic conditions just to create jobs for their families
and needed the support of the media.
Professor Dzisi said this at the maiden
Eastern Regional Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) awards held in Koforidua.
The event was held under the theme:
“Repositioning the Eastern Region for Investment and Job Creation: Role of the
Media”.
Professor Dzisi said women formed about 51per
cent of the Eastern Region’s population and mostly engage in entrepreneurship
activities “yet they are usually the economically disadvantaged group in the
region”.
She said the media’s focus on women’s economic
activities as part of their renewed efforts to support government job creation
efforts in the region would change the situation to the benefit of all in the
society.
Professor Dzisi said empirical studies shows
that access to the media by women is associated with better income and
education, in addition to better health and fertility outcomes.
The Vice-Chancellor said with the onset of the
one-district, one factory project and the government’s drive for
entrepreneurship and innovation, the media must play the critical role of
“proactively searching and bringing to the public’s attention business opportunities
that can improve the lot of the people”.
She commended the Eastern Regional branch of
the GJA for the renewed commitment of playing an effective role by writing
useful stories that bothered on jobs and businesses for investment and jobs in
the region.
She said the KTU is ready to collaborate with
the media in that direction and more so her outfit is on the verge of
establishing a 5-strategic Research Centres focused on providing leadership and
state-of-the-art research areas that are of regional and national relevance.
She said the centres included a Business
Development Research (cBDR) whose mandate would be to collect, analyze, store
and produce data on the business opportunities within each district of the
Eastern Region, and this would help facilitate the establishment and growth of
businesses.
The maiden Eastern GJA Awards saw seven media
persons and two veterans- Mr Emmanuel Sarfo, former Regional chairman of the
GJA and Editor of the GBC and Mr Edmund Quaynor also former Regional Chair and
Regional manager of the GNA, were recognised for their distinguished services.
GNA