After a 5.4% increase in its GDP in 2021 that marked an initial post Covid-19 crisis rebound, GDP growth in Ghana is estimated to have slowed to 3.2% in 2022, expected to slow further to 1.6% in 2023 and to remain muted in 2024, before returning toward its potential, according to the World Bank. High inflation and depressed consumption, both consequences of international turmoil associated with the crisis in Ukraine, are two of the main drivers explaining those sluggish economic performances, which have an impact on key economic sectors, poverty reduction and unemployment. 

In order to achieve the country's economic ambitions, Ghana will have to rely on sustainable and higher economic growth. As in many African countries, developing its entrepreneurial ecosystem represents one of the avenues envisioned by Ghanaian authorities to achieve such an objective, given the positive spillovers associated with entrepreneurship.Hence the need to analyze policies capable of strengthening the factors underlying the future success of Ghanaian entrepreneurs, in particular, entrepreneurial education and training. As a reminder, entrepreneurial education occurs when students are attending academic institutions while entrepreneurial training focuses on people out of (or beyond) the educational systems (working or unemployed people) looking forward to joining the entrepreneur world. 

Those two factors, and their quality and level, are said to have a decisive impact on individual and entrepreneurial trajectories.  This is why the BETAF project team organized on April 4th 2023 in Accra, within the premises of the Alliance Française, a conference entitled “What kind of entrepreneurial education and training programs to boost Entrepreneurship in Ghana?” 

As a reminder, the BETAF project, the result of a partnership between the Center for Entrepreneurship of Sciences Po, the Cameroon Center of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) and the Mastercard Foundation, has set itself the objective of finding solutions to improve the supply of entrepreneurship education and training in Africa.

During more than three hours, this second conference in a series of four organized in several African countries covered by the research project (Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda andSenegal) was an opportunity to brainstorm on that objective. It represented an opportunity to discuss in depth the trends of the Ghanaian entrepreneurial ecosystem, analyze the structure and performances of the entrepreneurial education and training ecosystems and propose potential reforms to increase their impact. 

• The Government made Entrepreneurship one of its key pillars for the implementation of the “One District One Factory” policy, which aims at industrializing Ghana. 

• Ghana should focus on bridging the gap between the demand and the supply sides in the Entrepreneurial Education and Training  (EET) sector, given difficulties satisfying needs.

• Entrepreneurial Education and Training (EET) should be focused on community needs and avoid some biases, especially the Tech bias, in a country which imports a sizable share of its food and products.

• Entrepreneurial education and training must be able to prepare people broadly but also more specifically to the different forms of entrepreneurship represented in Ghana.

• Curricula from elementary school to later stages should favor a sequential initiation to entrepreneurship and should be focused on basic skills in earlier life and sector specific know-how for people ready to launch their venture.

• Entrepreneurial education in Ghanaian academic institutions has been achieved through several avenues ranging from basic entrepreneurial courses to support provided to students to create their business ventures (incubators, business cliniques, grants…).

• The role of the Ministry of Education was underlined by several participants as all Technical and Vocational Institutions are now administered by the Ministry of Education, in order to guarantee better regulation and higher harmonization.

• Many private entities operate in the Entrepreneurial Training sub ecosystem where they have tended to specialize their activities on categories of population or sectors in order to achieve more impact.

• The cooperation among EET institutions and other stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem should be increased as positive spillovers arise when EET training/education benefits from an ongoing, complementary and driven network of support organizations/programs.

• The model of the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA)  illustrates the interest of an integrated  360° support program that combines entrepreneurial education and training with other forms of support. 

• Ghana should consider introducing entrepreneurial courses or training even from the secondary or high schools, with a focus on basic skills at those levels.

• Tracking mechanisms should be created or developed to follow up young entrepreneurs and provide them additional support tailored to their stage of development.

• Academic institutions and entrepreneurial programs should be encouraged to adopt communication tools favored by young people (Tiktok, Twitter…). 

• The content of EET should be oriented toward more practical and real life experience, and entrepreneurial curricula should be aligned with entrepreneurs’ needs.

• Programs/schemes capable of monitoring entrepreneurial trends and quickly design demand-driven training or courses should be fostered.

• Entrepreneurial culture in society should be promoted  in order to mainstream more conducive entrepreneurial mindsets and policies.

• Work experience in curricula should be developed as solid entrepreneurial trajectories are often associated with previous work experience.

• As far as content is concerned, panelists pleaded for a combination of hard and soft skills. Panelists emphasized the need to develop courses and practices aimed at building soft skills - such as emotional and social intelligence, resilience and team spirit - a critical but missing area of many curricula.

• Entrepreneurial education and training should promote business process management to address managerial issues and a major issue plaguing enterprises: business continuity.

• As social and human capital represents major impediments to entrepreneurship for young Ghanaians, entrepreneurship training should focus on networking and mentoring.

To get additional insights and to understand the detailed background of our project, feel free to check out our social media channels. There you will find further information on our research project!

• Twitter: @BetteringAfrica 

• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/betaf/ 

… 22% of Africa's working-age population start new businesses? That is the highest rate in the world!

… Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to become entrepreneurs

… Africa has the largest free trade area in the world? The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was founded in 2018! Its trade has been commencing as of 1 January 2021!