There is a common quote, “If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.”

This was a quote by a renowned Ghanaian scholar, Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir-Aggrey, many decades ago but which still rings a bell today and always will.

Against this background, the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), as part of the 2025 International Women’s Day Celebrations, organized an insightful thought-leadership engagement on Friday 7th March 2025.

The event which took place in the MIIF Boardroom, was on the theme; “For All Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment,” and brought together the assiduous and visionary women of the Fund who work around the clock to maximize the royalties from the nation’s mineral resources.

It was an insightful conversation that came with a clear call to action to support women in deed and not just in words.

Mrs. Justina Nelson, CEO of MIIF, opened the event by expressing her delight at the opportunity to mark this year’s International Women’s Day at such a pivotal moment in the country’s history.

“At MIIF, our commitment to gender equality goes beyond words—we believe true empowerment comes through education, economic opportunities, and strong support systems,” she said.

Mrs. Nelson, who is also the first woman CEO of MIIF, further mentioned the MIIF Women from Mining Communities (WoMCom) scholarship scheme, which was launched in June 2024, and said the scheme is helping to transform the lives of young women from mining communities.

She added that the first batch of 41 awardees for the 2024/2025 academic year was disbursed last year adding that, efforts are underway for the next batch.

She emphasized that, “Empowering women and girls is not just a moral obligation—it is an economic imperative.”

The keynote speaker for the event was Mrs. Georgette Barnes Sakyi-Addo, an accomplished mining executive, whose career spans over 3 decades. She is the founder and current President of Women in Mining Ghana.

Using practical stories to illustrate her points, Mrs. Sakyi-Addo touched on the many challenges women in the mining industry in particular face including discrimination.

She lauded the CEO of MIIF for her appointment to lead the Fund and charged the MIIF women to continue to lend their support to make her succeed in fulfilling the mandate of the Fund.

She also used the opportunity to stress the need for visibility of women in the mining space, emphasizing the importance of MIIF’s Women from Mining Communities (WoMCoM) scholarship scheme to the development of women in Ghana.

She noted that, “If you bring a female leader down, you’re bringing yourself down, because there are not many of them.”

The programme closed with Mrs. Sakyi-Addo presenting a special report on Gender in Mining, authored by Women in Mining Ghana, to Mrs. Nelson.