GhanaWeb Feature by Benjamin Sackey
Several prominent women in Ghana have played instrumental roles in managing the country’s financial sector and contributing to its economic growth.
These trailblazing individuals have made their mark both locally and internationally, taking on key positions that shape national and regional economic outcomes.
This article highlights five outstanding Ghanaian women whose work continues to influence economic policy, financial management, and development in Ghana and beyond.
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Professor Grace Nkansa Asante
Professor Grace Nkansa Asante, born in 1965, is a Ghanaian academic and the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
A proud alumna of KNUST, where she earned both her bachelor’s and PhD in Economics, she also holds a master’s degree from the University of Ghana. Her academic expertise covers Economic Policy Analysis, Monetary Economics, and Financial Economics. She also lectures at the African Economic Research Consortium as a visiting scholar.
From 2019 to 2022, she served as Head of the Department of Economics at KNUST, leading key institutional reforms and mentoring a new generation of economists. Her public service experience includes work with the African Development Bank and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.
Beyond academia, Professor Nkansa Asante is an ordained Anglican priest, serving at the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer Anglican Church within the KNUST community.
Professor Ama Pokuaa Fenny
Professor Ama Pokuaa Fenny is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana. A respected health economist, her research focuses on evaluating health and development programs in low- and middle-income countries.
Her work explores health financing strategies for social protection, interventions that improve health-seeking behavior, and cost-effectiveness methods that enhance the efficiency of health programs.
Professor Fenny has several years of practical experience working with Ghana’s Ministry of Health and numerous international agencies. She has conducted costing studies, expenditure tracking surveys, and health expenditure reviews across countries including The Gambia, Liberia, Eritrea, and Mozambique.
Eva Esselba Mends
Eva Esselba Mends is an economist and the first Ghanaian woman to be appointed Director of Budget at the Ministry of Finance, a position she assumed in May 2017.
She holds a degree in Political Science with Economics from the University of Ghana and an Executive Master’s in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Mends began her career at the Ministry of Finance as a national service personnel in 1991 and has since served in various leadership roles, including Head of the Americas Desk (1998), Head of Budget Development (2006), and Group Head of Public Financial Management Reforms (2013).
As Director of Budget from 2017 to 2019, she led major reforms such as gender-responsive budgeting, Programme-Based Budgeting, and the development of the Public Financial Management Act. She currently serves as a Coordinating Director at the Ministry.
Professor Vera Ogeh Fiador
Professor Vera Fiador is an Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Ghana Business School. She holds a PhD in Finance from the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Her teaching and research focus on corporate governance, corporate finance, gender diversity, enterprise risk management, and environmental and social risk management.
In addition to her academic work, Professor Fiador serves on several corporate boards and is a Director and Senior Consultant at Madeolo Consult, a management consulting and training firm. Her consulting work includes financial literacy, strategy development, and corporate finance training.
She is a member of the African Economic Research Consortium and has served as a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C.
Yvonne Tsikata
Yvonne Tsikata is a renowned Ghanaian economist with an undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and a graduate degree in Economics from New York University (NYU), where she also taught monetary and macroeconomic theory.
She has worked with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris and the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki.
Tsikata joined the World Bank Group in 1991 and held several leadership positions, including Director of Economic Policy for the Europe and Central Asia region and Country Director for the Caribbean. In 2013, she joined the Office of the World Bank President.
During her career, she has also served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Economic and Social Research Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and as a consultant to the OECD.
These distinguished women exemplify leadership, resilience, and excellence in economics and finance. Through academia, policy, and practice, they continue to shape Ghana’s economic landscape and inspire the next generation of financial leaders.
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