"Amma Gyampo stresses that Ghana is an ideal location for entrepreneurship, emphasizing the need for courage, strategic vision, and a focus on long-term goals."
The Venture Capital and Private Equity (VC/PE) landscape in Ghana is on the rise, albeit smaller and less mature compared to leading African hubs like Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. The Ghana Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (GVCA) is at the forefront of driving growth in this sector.
One of the key initiatives by the GVCA is advocating for pension funds to increase their allocation to Ghanaian private capital. In April 2025, the association lobbied for pension funds to raise their minimum allocation from 1% to 5%, potentially unlocking around $337 million by 2026. This move aims to reduce Ghana's dependence on foreign capital, which sometimes misaligns with local business realities.
In 2024, Ghanaian startups raised only $102 million across 17 deals, a modest figure compared to Nigeria and Kenya. The sector is dominated by fintech, followed by climate tech, AI, e-commerce, and supply chain tech, reflecting broader continental trends. However, Ghana is not yet at the scale of these major hubs.
Local capital is limited, with only a tiny fraction of pension funds allocated to VC/PE, despite an 81% concentration in low-yield government securities. Infrastructure challenges, such as unreliable logistics and internet, add operational hurdles. There is also a cultural conservative approach toward failure and short-term investment expectations that hinder long-term startup scaling.
Despite these challenges, Ghana is well-positioned to leverage continental trends such as a young, tech-engaged population, urbanization, industrialization, infrastructure development, and regional economic integration. The country is taking concrete steps to build a more robust local VC/PE ecosystem, distinguishing it from other African markets that currently have larger and more mature VC sectors.
Amma Gyampo, the executive director of the GVCA, believes that venture capital and private equity in Ghana require betting on local potential and accepting that building sustainable businesses here is a longer journey with unique challenges. Institutional capital requires clearer visibility into how venture deals work on the ground in Ghana. To address this, there is a need for more detailed, plain-English case studies that demystify the investment process in Ghana.
Exits in African markets are less frequent due to emerging markets, evolving infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks, and scaling businesses takes more time. However, examples of reliable exits or liquidity in African VC/PE include Verod's exit after strengthening operations in a Ghanaian business and Zeepay's secondary sale exit for early investors. The ecosystem in Ghana is gradually maturing, with examples like PEG Africa's acquisition by Bboxx to form a clean energy super-platform and mPharma's growth by acquiring regional players, delivering exits to early investors.
The storytelling gap in the Ghanaian ecosystem needs to be addressed to help build shared understanding across the investment community. The GVCA is working to create the legal, regulatory, tax, and convening infrastructure needed to support more private capital deals in Ghana. Venture capital and private equity are already driving significant impact in Ghana, fostering job creation, formalizing businesses, enabling technology adoption, and encouraging governance and operational discipline.
In conclusion, Ghana’s VC/PE scene is smaller but developing, propelled by policy pushes to channel local capital into startups, a young entrepreneurial population, and alignment with broader African tech sector growth. The country faces structural and cultural challenges common in West Africa but is taking concrete steps to build a more robust local venture ecosystem, distinguishing it from other African markets that currently have larger and more mature VC sectors.
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- The GVCA is advocating for an increase in pension funds' allocation to Ghanaian private capital, aiming to unlock around $337 million by 2026.
- In 2024, Ghanaian startups raised only $102 million, a significant portion from fintech, climate tech, AI, e-commerce, and supply chain tech sectors.
- Local capital is limited, with only a tiny fraction of pension funds allocated to VC/PE, despite an 81% concentration in low-yield government securities.
- The GVCA is working to create the legal, regulatory, tax, and convening infrastructure needed to support more private capital deals in Ghana.
- The ecosystem in Ghana is gradually maturing, with examples of reliable exits or liquidity in African VC/PE, such as Verod's exit and Zeepay's secondary sale exit.
- Amma Gyampo believes that building sustainable businesses in Ghana is a longer journey with unique challenges, and institutional capital needs clearer visibility into the venture deals' workings in Ghana.
