Promoting business start-ups and expansion among women in Ghana: the role of mobile money technology

Women’s empowerment has dominated policy discourse in recent times. The reason is that the empowerment of women is linked to the achievement of some of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as goals 1 (no poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and well-being), 4 (quality education), 5 (gender equality), 6 (decent work and economic growth) and 7 (reduced inequality). To contribute to this discourse, this present study examines the role mobile technology, specifically mobile money usage (for financial activities) plays in promoting business start-ups and expansion among women using evidence from Ghana. This paper further identifies the challenges that confront women in the adoption and the utilization of the mobile money technology. This paper is the first attempt with respect to the examination of the effect of mobile money technology on business start-ups and expansion among women in Ghana, and this is the novelty of this paper. The Financial Inclusion Insight (FII) survey dataset is used and the binary probit regression is employed for the analysis. The results show that mobile money usage promotes business start-ups and expansion among women. The results further reveal that having a bank account, being financially sound, being employed, and having access to credit from informal financial institutions enhance business start-ups and expansion. The positive relationship between mobile money usage and business start-ups and expansion further indicates that saving through mobile money has the potential to promote women’s empowerment. It is therefore recommended that, the government and mobile network operators should stimulate the use of mobile money. Specifically, this can be achieved through the provision of incentives like mobile money tax exemption and waivers on mobile money transactions for women-owned businesses. This would motivate women to use mobile money services, thereby promoting financial inclusion as well as women’s empowerment in Ghana.