Over the next few weeks, you will be immersed in the entrepreneurial environment and economic landscape of Accra. You will be challenged to question your personal assumptions and ideas, looking at innovations and traditional business models differently. The focus is to support the development of existing small entreprises currently manufacturing and selling products and services in Ghana.

Due to the particular nature of the interactions you will have in Accra, the assignment will require you to immerse yourself (at first remotely) in the broader business environment and economic landscape of Accra and Ghana, doing as much desk research and topical reading as possible: On Ghana, on Accra, on your client’s particular sector of activity, and the broader continental and global trends that form the backdrop of your assignment.

Your focus remains to facilitate the growth of these small businesses, all of which feature a strong social component, owned and / or managed by passionate individuals. We hope that this consulting experience will help shape your outlook on opportunities in emerging markets, including the typical challenges that entrepreneurs face in this type of environment.

This website will provide you with your client profile, as well as resources dedicated to help you throughout your assignment. Visit often, as the website will be updated regularly.

Ghana’s economic trajectory cannot be separated from its colonial history. As was the case for almost all other sub-Saharan countries during the colonial era, Ghana’s pre-independence economy was mainly based on the extraction of raw materials, in this instance timber and cocoa. During the initial optimism after independence in 1957, Ghana pursued import substitution industrial policies, especially in the textile industry and the agricultural and food-processing sectors. Like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana established state-owned enterprises in the hope that these would drive industrialisation and economic growth. Unfortunately, political and economic instability by the mid-60s and throughout the 1970s, compounded by mismanagement, skills shortages and poor infrastructure, led to the collapse of Ghana’s initial post-independence manufacturing ambitions.

The crisis of the 1970s led Ghana straight into the era of structural adjustment programmes prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the 1980s and 1990s. These typically included culling public services, privatising state firms, liberalising trade and devaluing the currency1. While these reforms helped stabilise Ghana’s public finances, they also impoverished many citizens and exposed local manufacturers and other small businesses to intense foreign competition, causing many firms to close.

Over the past two decades, Ghana has made a remarkable comeback, and has been one of West Africa’s fastest growing economies since 2005. Boosted by increasing political stability and an enviable track record of free and fair elections, Ghana attracted significant amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI), most of which went to the mining and oil & gas sectors2. The inflow of capital fuelled economic growth, and also helped create an emerging middle class, especially visible in Accra. Today, Ghana’s manufacturing industry is reviving, exemplified by the small number of high-end, high value textile manufacturers and designers, as well as SMEs in the food processing and agri-processing sectors. The government is also keen to push for industrialisation through initiatives like the “One District One Factory” programme, including in the agri-processing sector, to add value to the production of cocoa, shea butter, peanuts and cashew nuts, amongst others3.

Challenges persist, including inadequate infrastructure, high energy costs, and limited access to credit. There is also huge room for further growth in terms of local value addition and beneficiation: For example, Ghana exported US$ 72 million worth of textiles in 2023, but imported US$ 2.5 billion worth of textile products, a ratio of 34 dollars of imported fabrics for every dollar of locally produced goods. In the same period, exports of raw cocoa in various forms (beans, paste, powder) amounted to US$ 1.6 billion, while locally produced chocolate exports barely reached US$ 22 million4. In the same year Belgium, which grows no cocoa of its own, exported US$ 3.1 billion worth of chocolate. Ghana’s trade patterns and economic ties are also increasingly shifting from Europe to Asia (including Turkey, India, China and the Gulf states) and the rest of the African continent: Asia’s share of Ghana’s exports has doubled from less than 10% in 1995 to over 21% in 20235, and FDI flows are increasingly originating from Asia rather than Europe or America.

Building a strong SME manufacturing base in key growth sectors like textile, fashion design and agri-processing, can be pathways to employ more Ghanaians, develop skills, and generate tax revenues. SMEs are often considered the backbone of an economy. In the current context, they have to be resilient and agile to overcome a wide range of challenges.

Your client is a small Accra-based company facing at least one or more of these challenges, linked to both the economic and social context of Ghana as well as a particularly challenging international environment. Your support is highly valued.

To be shared at a later date.