West Africa Trade & Investment Hub Strengthens Global Mamas’ Mechanism for Livelihood Resilience Through its Co-Investment Grant

Reformulating the Ghana–based company’s business strategies will ensure job retention and creation despite the COVID–19 pandemic and economic slowdown

The USAID–funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub has signed a co–investment partnership with Global Mamas to support the company’s drive for sustainable growth post–pandemic and promote the goals of the U.S. Government’s Prosper Africa initiative to increase two–way trade and investment. A natural partner for the Trade Hub, Global Mamas is a Ghana–based social enterprise that works with women across Africa to create and sell unique, handcrafted products.

“The partnership with Global Mamas is one of many the Trade Hub is forming in rapid response to the effects of COVID–19 on businesses in West Africa,” says Michael Clements, Chief of Party for the Trade Hub. “These grants will be our most powerful response to the pandemic, as they are important to the survival of businesses.”

Amidst the pandemic, Global Mamas suffered a 90% loss in its domestic retail sales and a 40% loss in global sales. As a result, for the first time since its founding in 2003, Global Mamas had to face organization–wide layoffs of women, many of whom are the primary income earners in their households. The co–investment partnership will leverage private funding of $2 million, including $497,000 provided by the Trade Hub, to combat Global Mamas’ COVID–19–induced financial difficulties and build a more resilient livelihood for women.

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Under Global Mamas’ “Women Rising” project to achieve these goals, the funding will support the launch of at least nine new products from three product lines—sustainable packaging, skincare, and jersey–knit cotton. Through newly devised targeted–marketing efforts, Global Mamas forecasts its domestic sales to recover and then increase to $300,000 by the end of the project cycle, and its export sales to reach nearly $1.6 million, primarily to the United States. These interventions are expected to preserve at least 258 jobs and create at least 85 new jobs by the end of 2022, of which about 80% will be for women.

“Global Mamas believes in the rippling effects of economically empowered women,” says Renae Adams, Global Mamas’ Founder and Executive Director. “This co–investment partnership will support Global Mamas’ aim to build a more resilient organization by developing alternative income streams through product diversification and targeted–marketing efforts. By the end of 2022, we expect to bring sales back to pre–pandemic levels and position the organization for growth, which will preserve existing jobs and create new jobs through and beyond the COVID–19 crisis.”