Monday, 9th March, 2026
Hon Lawrence Agyinsam
Hemang Lower Denkyira
Mr Speaker, I rise to make a Statement on the importance of connecting entrepreneurs in the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSME) landscape in Ghana.
This was a commemorative statement last year, but it is finding its place now. This day presents an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of entrepreneurs in the Ghanaian economy and take actionable steps toward building a sustainable MSME outlook in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, in Ghana, the informal sector of the economy is clothed in numerous MSMEs where massive economic activities are performed. However, the transformative capacity of the MSMEs has for a long period been ignored. Mr Speaker, with your leave, I want to highlight Ghana’s MSME statistical background. Ghana has about 1.9 million business establishments. Out of this, a total of 1.7 million are micro-sized enterprises, of which 464,100, which represent 27.3 per cent, was recorded in the Ashanti region. In the Greater Accra region, there was a record of 379,100, representing 22.3 per cent, whereas the remaining 14 regions cumulatively recorded 857,800 MSMEs, which represent 50.4 per cent.
Mr Speaker, it will interest you to know that these businesses operate with approximately one to five employees and mostly lack the motivation to innovate. According to the Ghana Statistical Service, approximately 70 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is attributed to the economic activities of MSMEs, whereas the United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP), emphasises that these enterprises have been pivotal across various sectors of the Ghanaian economy, accounting for over 90 per cent of businesses which span from agriculture, manufacturing, services and trade.
Mr Speaker, in the employment sector, MSMEs have a share of about 80 per cent of Ghana’s labour force. Specifically, they account for about 85 per cent of employment within the manufacturing sector, highlighting their significance in job creation and industrial development, as well as economic development. This brings me to the focus of today’s discussion, the entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneurs in Ghana, who are hypothetically the brains of engine behind Small and MediumSized Enterprises (SMEs), drive an often neglected in terms of access to capital, that is finance and innovation. In emerging and developing economies, the International Trade Centre (ITC), estimates that SMEs financing gap as of 2020 was estimated as 19 per cent, equivalent to US$5.7 trillion. Nearly 70 per cent of SMEs do not have access to funds from financial institutions while additional 15 per cent are under finance. As a result, many SMEs rely on lessthan-ideal resources, such as internal funds or informal sources like family and friends to sustain their operation.
Mr Speaker, in Ghana, most businesses shut down due to inadequate capitalisation and access, especially for women. According to International Trade Centre data, 45 per cent of women-managed businesses face financial constraints, compared to 27 per cent of men-managed businesses.
Globally, over one million women do not use or lack access to formal financial systems. This has led to financing gap for formal women-owned small businesses of US$1.9 trillion. This is why government must increase the funds allocated to the Women’s Development Bank to fast track its establishment. The idea of Women’s Development Bank is commendable, and this can be used as a policy tool to connect women entrepreneurs.
Mr Speaker, moreover, savings groups and corporations must be incentivised to formalise their services to extend access to capital to budding entrepreneurs, especially women, in rural communities such as my constituency, which is the home to one of Ghana’s famous tourist sites, the Kakum National Park.
Mr Speaker, on this note, kindly indulge me to plead with entrepreneurs to visit the Hemang Lower Denkyira Constituency, a constituency which is ripe with business opportunities such as oil palm plantation and processing, as well as rubber production and processing. Launching a national campaign on MSME academies and boot camps through Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), and National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme, (NEIP), is another policy initiative to consider.
The campaign will see the affordability of finance by expanding the range of financing instrument beyond traditional banks, loans, and leverage digital technologies to reduce costs and expand outreach, and incentivise public-private synergies to de-risk and expand SME funding. Digital transformation cannot be ignored when discussing measures to connect entrepreneurs in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, digital technologies are pivotal for boosting MSME performance. For instance, e-commerce platforms can help companies to reduce such information costs, making it faster, easier, and cheaper to connect with buyers. These platforms have the capacity to connect businesses to foreign countries, which will allow them to sell beyond domestic markets.
Mr Speaker, digital transformation in Ghana must be a shared responsibility. As such, I propose some actions that can drive progress. There is a need for increased affordability. This can be achieved through encouraging public and private investment in broadband expansion, reducing the cost of internet connectivity, and enabling access to data processing infrastructure. There is also the need to close the skills gap. This can be done by integrating digital skills in education and training through establishing more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) schools, which the previous administration had already started, and foster digital talent mobility.
Mr Speaker, in concluding, Ghana can become the entrepreneurial hub of Africa when Ghanaian entrepreneurs and businesses are given the right support by bringing them together on a common pedestal where innovation, productivity, and healthy competition is the trademark.
Mr Speaker, thank you, for the opportunity to speak to these issues.
Hon Sebastian Fred Deh
Kpando
Mr Speaker, thank you. I want to thank the maker of the Statement, Hon Lawrence Agyinsam for such a beautiful work. I think this could not have come at a better time.
We held a celebration of the Ghanaian entrepreneur, how they matter and why they matter. I think that the importance of the entrepreneur in the micro-SME sector cannot be overemphasised without repeating some of the things that my Hon Colleague has already enumerated for us, it is important for us to remember that these set of people that drive 80 per cent of employment, the much talked about unemployment situation.
These are the people who drive over 80 per cent of it and also 17 per cent of GDP. They cover a wide range of economic activities, from baking to food making to selling of cosmetics et cetera and these entrepreneurs, who operate in the microSME sector, adapt very fast to local needs. We attend funerals and all the major economic activities we see around are controlled by these people. Call it selling of funeral paraphernalia, food or any other thing that will make people feel good at such functions. These people also turn informal trade into registered businesses.
They actually form the starting point of our businesses in Ghana. This, for me, is the importance why these people must be celebrated. Four things which were espoused by the maker of the Statement which I risk to emphasise is that easier and cheaper financing is the most important thing that will make this sector grow. How this can be carried out to the doorstep of the entrepreneur is what we need to emphasise as a Nation.
I was happy to hear from the Statement that the issue of a Women’s Development Bank which has been so well established in all the documents that have been placed before Parliament as coming from the ruling Government as one of the things that will be done to boost the micro-SME sector would come into being. What we also need to remember is sharpening the practical skills of these people. It is important as a way of boosting the sector.
I must also add that how we make regulation or how we make formalising of this informal sector possible and better, or how we make it easier for them to formalise their informal trade is important. I wish to thank the maker of the Statement that such brilliant ideas have been exposed on the floor of Parliament at such a time that we are actually preparing to take off as a nation as far as business is concerned. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Hon Stephen Amoah
Nhyiaeso
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for this prestigious opportunity. First, I would like to commend the Hon Member who presented this very important Statement.
Mr Speaker, when it comes to the issue of SMEs in Ghana, it is time we give it the needed attention and priority as a country in terms of our state policies, especially when we are trying to find a long-term solution to dealing with the consolidation of our fiscal space. I am saying this because, as stated here, SMEs play an important role in our ecosystem as a country. However, there are so many challenges confronting SME actors in our country today, contributing to the sinusoidal performance of our economy and our inability to be fully independent as a sovereign nation.
There are two main extracts in the Statement that I would like to concentrate on: one, capitalisation, and two, consolidating the various SMEs dimensions in our country. It looks as if we are not leveraging our advantage and opportunity as a country. I am saying this because there seems to be a very big gap between the opportunities that we accord large-scale corporate bodies and these SMEs in our country. If we can realise this and do something about it as a country, it will go a long way to help us attain the long-term economic growth and stability that have been so challenging to us as a country. For SMEs in Ghana, when it comes to the cost of even borrowing, it is not comparable to most of their colleagues within the West Africa sovereignty.
For some of them, the interest rate is beyond 45 per cent and some 50 per cent. Even access to them is a problem. There are inadequate funds on our market simply because of the risk factors that are positioned with them. So, Mr Speaker, if we can connect them, as the maker of this Statement is concerned about, first, as a country, we need to accord SMEs the needed opportunity to, one, have adequate funds, and two, to have funds that come with less cost; costs that can be competitive enough. Some of these things do not even attract investors. They seem to be getting closer to our neighbouring countries because of some of these opportunities. Most of the actors of even this very segment of our socioeconomic framework are not experienced. So, even sometimes they are given funds, the money goes bad. They cannot even pay back because they do not have people who have the knowhow.
Mr Speaker, let us not forget the fact that one of the key functions of performance is ability. So, we can even give them the funds, but without the appropriate orientation and training the monies given to them will go bad, and the sustainability of SMEs in our country can never be realised. Even within the government-owned sector, whether government A or B, we have come to realise that we have a lot of institutions positioning themselves in a way to capitalise these SMEs. I think there are too many. We found out with the previous government, and we are still finding that with this Government.
Can we sit down and try to consolidate the effort of these state-owned institutions that are capitalising these SMEs? Even Microfinance and Loans Centre (MASLOC) can be made like Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) in Ghana, but solely for the SMEs. It has to be properly run—
Hon Jerry Ahmed Shaib
Weija-Gbawe
I want to take this opportunity to thank the maker of this Statement, Hon Agyinsam, MP for Hemang Lower Denkyira, on virtually connecting entrepreneurs to the SMEs landscape in Ghana.
Just going through the Statement, there are a few revelations. One is that when we are talking about Micro, it is about one to about five people who are supposed to be employed within a certain setup. Then when we come down to talk about the Small, then we are looking at about between six to 30. When we are talking about Medium, it is about 31 to 100.
Mr Speaker, what this generally does is that it tells us that SMEs provide a lot of employment. So, employment from SMEs alone is not less than 90 per cent within the Ghanaian landscape. So, what are we doing to keep them active and to keep them operational? Secondly, when we come down, we also realise that most SMEs lack very basic support, especially with reference to financial support. This is because they do not have the wherewithal to even be able to access basic loans to work.
When it comes to SMEs, going for loans, the kind of facilities they are to look for and the guarantees that they are expected to provide is sometimes very unconscionable. It is so harsh that they are unable to meet same. So, my request would rather be that we should be thinking of how best the Government can put in structures that would make them assess loans without these kinds of harsh restrictions. The commendation to the Government would have come in if the Government had even considered fast-tracking the Women’s Development Bank.
This is because if the Women’s Development Bank were to be active today, most SMEs would have gone to the bank to aid them, especially the women. One of the contributors even made the point that most of these people are found to be in baking. They also sell; it is the basic things but they are not even getting the monies to do so. If we are able to improve upon such, a lot of problems would be solved. Mr Speaker, another challenge they face is high interest rates from the banks. Most SMEs are unable to pay the kind of interest that they are requested to. When they go in, they take the monies and then the next thing is that they vanish into thin air; we cannot find them again. Why? Because even data on them is also a problem.
Mr Speaker, we are also aware that people even take facilities from Mobile Money (MOMO) accounts, and the next thing they do is throw the SIM card away because they are unable to pay. But when data is well-captured, we are sure that people who would even go for such facilities would be emboldened to use them for the purposes for which they went, and they can pay back and expand employment and business.
Mr Speaker, I think that if we should look more at some of these things — poor infrastructure. Yesterday, I was in my home in my constituency, while I was discussing constituency matters, which obviously does not correlate with SME, the lights went off. When we are looking at the issue of poor infrastructure, we are looking at electricity, which is also tabled. When there is consistency in the supply of electricity, business people are able to do their business, especially those that deal with cold store facilities or storage facilities.
So, Mr Speaker, that is another thing we should look at, and the kind of technical skills some of —
Hon Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor
South Dayi
Mr Speaker, let me commend my Brother, Mr Lawrence Agyinsam, for this very good Statement.
Mr Speaker, I would not belabour some of the points raised by my other Colleagues. One of the key problems adversely affecting SMEs in obtaining easy facilities is improper records. It is such a big problem; they do not even keep proper books of accounts. And it is replete with some of the academic studies that have been done. So, as a people, we need to gradually move towards keeping proper books of accounts and registering the entities with the Registrar General’s Department.
Mr Speaker, if you recall, during the COVID-19 era, when businesses and entities were supposed to benefit from the COVID-19 package, record-keeping became a problem. That is why the Auditor-General found for a fact that some of those windfall packages had to be paid from the top of the table as cash. This is because entities were not registered. They did not have any records. They cannot even account for the money that they gave to the people.
Again, when they take the facilities, people decide to do other things from the purpose for which the funds were given. One is given a stimulus package but decides to go and develop their home and there is poor accountability. Inasmuch as we are trying to draw attention to the problems they face and how government can intervene, the SMEs themselves — the penchant to always make the SMEs a sole proprietorship, is a one-man business; the person decides the fate of the business. We should move away from that into proper recordkeeping. There can be sole proprietorship, but when the records are properly kept and properly registered, some of these packages that the government rolls out can come their way.
Mr Speaker, these days, when some of these Statements are made, the relevant Committees should be paying attention and taking note of the issues, so that in their programmes of activities where they go around, or they exercise oversight, they can pay attention and bring about reforms. This is because legislation is not always the only way to ensure that reforms come about in some of these sectors. When Hon Members make Statements or ask Questions, they are all part of tools that are available to us to ensure that we bring reforms. So, the Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism should pay attention to the issues the Hon Members raised, as well as those contained in the Statement for their attention.
Mr Speaker, with these words, I thank you for the opportunity.
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