KAS Ghana
KAS Ghana
KAS Ghana
KAS Ghana
Particularly during the 2010s, an important focus of KAS Ghana’s work on economic development was supporting entrepreneurship and Ghana’s emerging start-up ecosystem. At the centre of this approach were partnerships with start-up and innovation hubs – organisations that provide young entrepreneurs with training, mentoring, networks and practical support to turn ideas into viable businesses – as well as cooperation with the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP).
Starting and growing a business in Ghana can be challenging. Beyond the entrepreneurial skills required to develop a product or service, young businesses face administrative and regulatory hurdles, difficulties in accessing finance and investment, and often limited access to professional networks and business expertise. Working together with local hubs and institutional partners such as NEIP, KAS supported programmes designed to address these challenges and strengthen the capacities of young entrepreneurs.
Over the years, hundreds of start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs benefited from training, capacity building and mentoring. The cooperation also extended beyond individual programmes. Conferences and networking events brought entrepreneurs together with representatives from business, politics and other relevant institutions, creating opportunities to exchange ideas, discuss the conditions needed for entrepreneurship to thrive and build professional networks. Exhibitions and fairs provided young businesses with platforms to showcase their products and services to a wider audience.
This work represents the bottom-up dimension of KAS Ghana’s approach to economic development – complemented by engagement at the policy and institutional level. While programmes with start-ups, entrepreneurs and local innovation hubs seek to enable people to create businesses and economic opportunities themselves, KAS also works with policymakers and public institutions to improve the broader framework within which economic development takes place. One example has been KAS’s contribution to discussions surrounding the institutional and policy reform of Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector, an important element in aligning skills development more closely with the needs of the economy and labour market.
These two approaches are complementary: supporting people and businesses from the bottom up while contributing to better policies and institutional frameworks from the top down. By connecting practical experience from entrepreneurs and economic actors with dialogue at the political and policy level, KAS seeks to contribute to an environment in which entrepreneurship, skills development and sustainable private-sector growth can thrive.
