The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Impact Investing Ghana (IIGh), Amma Lartey, has highlighted the need for many Ghanaian businesses to better position themselves in order to attract the needed investments into their businesses.
She said the lack of bankable businesses in the country could undermine the potential impact of the newly launched $75 million Ci-Gaba Fund of Funds, despite its significance as a breakthrough in mobilising domestic capital.
The Ci-Gaba Fund, also known as the Progress Fund, is a blended finance vehicle aimed at unlocking domestic capital for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana and the wider West African region.
It addresses the financing gap faced by SMEs, which constitute approximately 92 per cent of West African businesses, employ 80 per cent of the workforce, and generate 70 per cent of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The fund is backed by 70 per cent Ghanaian capital and is designed to invest in funds across the West African sub-region that focus on SMEs with the potential to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ghana Impact Summit
Speaking at the Ghana Impact Summit 2026 in Accra last Tuesday, Mrs Lartey described the shortage of investment-ready SMEs as a pipeline problem that threatened to limit the fund’s ability to translate capital into sustainable economic growth and job creation.
“We need to have a pipeline of investment-ready businesses to absorb the capital,” she said.
“We need to make sure that we have those investment-readiness service providers who don’t just do training, but who actually help the business overcome the structural challenges,” Mrs Lartey said.
In an interview on the sidelines of the summit, the Impact Investing Ghana CEO emphasised that the initiative represented a critical step towards channelling domestic institutional capital into sectors that could deliver sustainable jobs, affordable housing, health care, and education.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg, we’ve seen over $600 billion in domestic institutional capital across Africa. Imagine what it would mean to unlock a small fraction of that for businesses that are ready to give up their services,” she asked.
However, Board Chair of Impact Investing Ghana, Alex Asiedu, sounded a cautionary note, arguing that local capital was not inherently superior and could sometimes carry its own risks.
“We should be honest here, local capital is not automatically better, it can tolerate mediocrity when standards are weak, and at times it, favours relationships over performance that’s not good enough.
The question is not how to mobilise local capital, but how to mobilise disciplined, patient, and accountable local capital,” he stated.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
