Ninety-eight social enterprises in the country, since 2015, have employed 998 young people directly and impacted the lives of 103,148 people.
This came to light at the launch of the Social Enterprise Activity in Ghana Research Report launched on Wednesday October 12.
The report, which was made known at the British Council in Accra, brought together private sector, development partners, civil society, academia, government and social enterprise experts.
In her welcome address, Liliana Biglou, Head of British Council Ghana said: “Businesses have the power not for profit alone but to bring social empowerment to societies.”
She noted that the British Council was keen to leverage the UK experience with Ghana’s flair for innovation and the need for socially relevant solutions.
In his address, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Trade and Industry, spoke on the potential of social enterprises to create jobs, transfer technology, and create new products and services. He mentioned government’s efforts at fostering an enabling environment for social enterprises to prosper.
According to Dr Spio-Garbrah, government had a rural entrepreneurship programme currently running in 161 districts as well as opportunities for funding Made-in-Ghana technology through the GRATIS foundation.
The report revealed that there were about 26,000 social enterprises operating in Ghana. About 98 social enterprises sampled nationwide currently employ over 900 people annually earning over GHS8million.
The research revealed that some challenges facing the growth of the social enterprises were access to finance, debt and equity, lack of understanding of a social enterprise operational model, lack of technical skills, and lack of advisory and other support services.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
