The African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI) has graduated 150 women from Ghana's Ashanti, Central and Western Regions with coding and digital skills to bring their informal businesses online. The beneficiaries, many of whom are fashion designers, caterers, and hairdressers, completed a training programme in Kumasi. The initiative is a partnership between the Government of Ghana and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), implemented in Ghana by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC).
The training covered various topics, including introduction to computer programming, data analytics, cybersecurity awareness and digital safety, graphic design, website development, and digital marketing and e-commerce. Unlike conventional tech bootcamps, the beneficiaries of this cohort are drawn from sectors that make up much of Ghana's informal economy, such as fashion design, catering, hairdressing, entrepreneurship, healthcare, and engineering.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, GIFEC Administrator Sofo Tanko Rashid explained that AGCCI marks a deliberate shift away from Ghana's existing Girls-in-ICT programme, which targets basic school girls. Instead, AGCCI focuses on women already engaged in vocational work, entrepreneurship, and tertiary education who have business ideas and talent but lack the digital tools to scale up.
At the event, participants showcased projects built during the training, with several beneficiaries saying they can now independently create business logos and product labels, build simple websites, and run targeted adverts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. One beneficiary, who had never imagined she could write a line of code, built a simple website for her academic department, proving that technology is not reserved for men alone.
Women dominate Ghana's informal sector, where many small businesses still operate without digital tools for marketing, bookings, or payments. The Acting Municipal Education Director for Kwadaso, Henaku Budu, emphasized that digital skills have become as fundamental as reading and writing in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence. Empowering women with such skills directly strengthens the wider Ghanaian economy.
Some graduates used the platform to appeal for the programme's expansion, calling on the Ministry of Education to fold AGCCI into the formal curriculum for vocational and technical institutions and make it an annual event. A beneficiary from the Ashanti Region noted that many of her peers still do not know how to use a computer to promote their businesses, and argued that wider rollout would help rural and deprived communities catch up.
GIFEC has announced plans to scale up the programme to reach 500 women next year, building on the success of this maiden cohort. The 150 graduates each received certificates of participation and start-up digital toolkits to help them begin applying their new skills. AGCCI is run across several African countries through the partnership of ITU, UN Women, and the African Union Commission, with a stated goal of training thousands of young women for digital-era jobs and entrepreneurship.
Key points
- The programme aims to empower women in Ghana's informal sector with digital skills to boost their businesses.
- The initiative is a partnership between the Government of Ghana and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
- GIFEC plans to scale up the programme to reach 500 women next year.
