Issue gender bonds - GSE Boss advocates

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has called on issuers to start issuing gender bonds on the Ghana Fixed Income Market.

This, the GSE believes, would help provide capital for women-led businesses in the country.

Speaking in an interview with the Graphic Business at the ‘Ring the bell for gender equality’ which was held to mark the International Women’s day, the Managing Director of the GSE, Abena Amoah, said the GFIM was launched to allow the listing, trading and investment into sustainability themed products.

“Top of mind for us is we want to see green bonds listed on our fixed income market and we want to see the issuance of gender bonds. Gender bonds will be capital that will be raised to invest in largely female-owned businesses or a business that is serving the needs of women.

“The market is ready and we are calling on issuers to come and issue these products,” she stated.

Listing on GAX

Ms Amoah also pointed out that the GSE was pushing for more women-owned businesses to be listed on the Ghana Alternative Market (GAX) which was designed for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

“We set up the GAX in 2015 to help the SMEs sector and in Ghana, women dominate the ownership of a lot of these SMEs.

“We have had some successes but we want to see more. We want to see 100 GAX companies, many of them female owned,” she stated.

Representation

Commenting on representation, the managing director noted that at the GSE, 50 per cent of it executive positions were occupied by women, with 55 per cent of its management team women.

She said as a mouth piece for the private sector, the GSE was also engaging the listed companies to also take this into account at their various organisations.

“We are working with our issuers and the listed companies. Currently, about 27 per cent of non-executive director positions are held by women on the boards of these companies and about 25 per cent of all directors are women.

“We want them to work with us to meet the minimum target of 30 per cent because it’s been shown that companies that have at least 30 per cent of women in senior leading positions do better financially and other performance targets,” she pointed out.

Embracing equity

The Ring the Bell for Gender Equality initiative, which is in its 9th year, is one where the Ghana Stock Exchange joins over 80 other members of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) to celebrate remarkable women changing the world.

Ms Amoah, who is the first female managing director of the GSE, said the event was to also draw attention to the additional work that needs to be done to achieve true gender equality.

The Ring the Bell initiative is delivered in partnership with the UN Global Compact, UN Women, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, the International Finance Corporation and Women in ETFs.

She said the theme for this year, “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality’’ was so apt, adding that women and girls in Ghana and indeed across the world, who are innovating and using technology to champion climate and sustainable initiatives, need to be celebrated to inspire the next generation of women change-leaders.

“It is my fervent hope that the picture we cast today shows every young person, male and female, that a woman’s place is also at the top. That a woman’s place is also in the boardroom.

“That a woman’s place is also in finance and capital markets. That a woman’s place is also in science and technology and innovation. Or wherever that girl or woman aspires to be,” she noted.

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