“My production started in my boyfriend’s apartment. We used the living room to slice and fry, the spare room for packaging and storage, the kitchen and back porch for peeling, and other production processes,” recalls Goretti Itoka.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Itoka started her cassava, potato, and eddo chips from home as she could not afford a processing facility in a shop where customers could buy the snacks. 

On the third cohort of UNDP’s Growth Accelerator Liberia programme, Agro Retti (Itoka’s business) won a grant of US$39,800 from the business competition which she used to procure new machines that have made her work easier. 

She narrated that before winning the grant, they used hand slicers, which are costly and take more time. The women would sit for hours. But now, with the machines, the company can produce more snacks within a shorter time and the women don’t have to worry about hurting themselves from the slicers.

“The UNDP grant helped my company to procure new machines. We used our hands to slice the eddoes, potatoes, and cassava, and it was so hard, but now with the machines, we just put in the ingredients and watch as the machines wash, slice, and fry them,” Goretti explains.   

She excitedly mentioned the new equipment has led to a high demand and supply of the products. “It is going well. Weekly production depends on demand from clients which we strive to meet because we spend less time producing more. This is helping us scale up our business,” she added.

Goretti revealed that Agro Retti works with 80 farmers in Bong, Lofa, Nimba, and Margibi Counties providing farming tools, equipment, and cash to grow the eddoes and cassava, which she would buy from them at a lower cost after harvesting. “Every week, huge quantities of cassava and eddoes are produced at the Agro Retti processing site in Duport Road, Paynesville”.

Aspiring businesswomen in Liberia face many challenges as they strive to beat the odds against them. Some borrow money from banks at high interest rates which cause them to default on payments. According to the World Bank, women represent a small portion of the formal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing markets and encounter many limitations to success.

They have more restrictions on access to finance and have less favorable terms. Reducing constraints would level the playing field and open more opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

Despite these hurdles, women like Itoka are still boosting agricultural produce and empowering local farmers to mitigate food insecurity. “My goal is to empower more women farmers,” she says. 

In Liberia, agriculture accounts for 36% of the country’s GDP and constitutes an average of 14% of total export earnings. Women play a significant role in agriculture. They account for approximately 80% of the agricultural labor and are responsible for 93% of food crop production. Despite that, women face challenges in accessing agriculture inputs and financing. 

Data from the Liberia Business Registry shows an increment in women-registered businesses between 2018 and 2023. 

Attorney Decontee King-Sackie, managing partner, ZE’AD Consultant Firm, says women-managed firms make up about one-third of all the formal firms in Liberia but, often have lower revenues than those managed by men. 

“Women entrepreneurs work informally in low-productive sectors such as small retail and trading businesses. They have significant constraints with access to business networks and market information. These constraints force women to seek loans from banking institutions with unfavorable rates that sometimes result in them defaulting on payment or sometimes being unable to pay,” King-Sackie says. 

Madam King-Sackie, a Chartered Accountant, urged women to access loans from banks to improve their business assets and access to credit. “So, some of that will include microfinance options, but those must be tailored specifically to women’s needs, credit guarantee schemes, and financial literacy. And that can be done through finding targeted financial products and services”.

She’s recommending that amid this struggle with accessing finance, one option could be a grant for women-led businesses that they don’t have to pay back. 

“Having access to grants provides freedom and flexibility with scaling up a business without worrying about overload from loan payments,” says Brenda Moore, Executive Director of Kids Education and Engagement Project (KEEP), an NGO that provides a reading hub for children. 

Madam Moore, an entrepreneur, reiterated that women’s businesses struggle with access to capital or finance. “Most of the banks, if you take loans from them, you have to pay with a high-interest rate payment period which is usually condensed.”

Becoming a pioneer businesswoman in Liberia is gradually/steadily becoming less of a hassle with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) forging partnerships and collaborations with the government and Non-Governmental Organizations in Liberia.

Through its Growth Accelerator Liberia program, UNDP provides access to funds for Micro-Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) with the first cohort in 2021. 

This initiative followed a survey conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), which revealed that farmers were trapped in subsistence farming due to the lack of specifically targeted loan products from financial institutions in the country.

The program supports businesses, particularly post-revenue-generating small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as commercially inclined agricultural cooperatives and forest-based enterprises to scale up their operations. These businesses contribute significantly to national economic development through increased revenues and job creation.

Grantees undergo a rigorous selection process, which includes meeting specific criteria: operating as a functioning business for more than a year; having a valid tax clearance; being registered with the business registry; maintaining an office and presenting a future business plan that must be pitched to a selection committee.

“We set up an independent selection committee that vets the applications. Then we do due diligence by verifying the information provided by shortlisted applicants before pitching and final selection,” said Luther Jeke, iCampus Liberia CEO, the implementing partner.

Last year (2023), the program attracted over 200 applications from Micro-Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) from across 11 counties in Liberia with 31.2% being women-led enterprises 68.8% male-led enterprises and 53.9% being youth-led enterprises. 20 enterprises, including 10 MSMEs and 10 Agricultural Cooperatives accessed grants up to US$40,000 each to improve and grow their operations and commercial viability.

“The long-term plan of the program is to build the capacity of the MSMEs to enable them access bank financing and other services that will help them to scale up,” said Abraham Tumbey, Programme Coordinator for UNDP’s Livelihood and Employment Creation Project. He added that women-led businesses are among MSMEs benefitting once they apply and meet the criteria.