The Ministry of Finance has endorsed a new partnership between the Ghana Investment Support Programme (GhISP) and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) aimed at expanding access to capital for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The partnership was announced at a stakeholder engagement held at Kempinski Hotel Accra on Friday, 14 February 2026, bringing together development partners, private capital funds, transaction advisors, SMEs, and ecosystem partners to assess progress under the technical assistance programme.
Powered by British International Investment (BII) and now supported by SECO, GhISP is designed to strengthen investment and deal flows to underserved SMEs in Ghana with a focus on gender, inclusion, and climate investing.
Cynthia Arthur, Head of Capital Markets at the Ministry of Finance, said the partnership reflects a shared conviction that when capital, expertise, and sound policy align, Ghanaian businesses can thrive. She noted that SMEs are the backbone of Ghana’s economy, creating jobs, driving innovation, and sustaining communities, yet too many remain constrained by limited access to finance.
Ms Arthur said many SMEs are caught in what she described as a finance capacity trap, making high quality affordable transaction advisory and pipeline development critical. She stressed that without such support, viable businesses remain invisible to capital.
The Ministry of Finance reaffirmed strong support for the partnership and pledged to work with SECO, GhISP, BII, and all stakeholders to scale what works and deliver lasting impact. Ms Arthur said the shared objective is clear: an SME ecosystem where viable enterprises are not constrained by access to capital and where investment translates into jobs, resilience, and shared prosperity.
Delivering the keynote address, Magdalena Wuest, Head of Cooperation at SECO, said Switzerland is pleased to join and reinforce an initiative that already has strong foundations. She noted that experience has shown that technical assistance delivers impact when it has a clear line of sight to investment and when support is focused, practical, and connected to real capital pathways.
Ms Wuest described the occasion as a celebration of shared purpose and collective commitment to strengthening Ghana’s private sector and ensuring that enterprise investment and opportunity can flourish in a way that is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.
Kwabena Asante Poku, BII Coverage Director for Ghana, officially welcomed SECO to the programme. He said GhISP has spent the last three years supporting Ghanaian SMEs to strengthen their systems, sharpen their strategies, and meet standards that make them investment ready.
Mr Asante Poku expressed appreciation for SECO’s confidence in what BII is building in Ghana, noting that the partnership is about possibility and the belief that when you invest in people and their ideas, you unlock growth that lasts.
A panel discussion at the event delivered insights on investment pipeline development and portfolio evidence, technical assistance effectiveness, and collaboration and delivery methods, bringing to light perspectives from investors, delivery partners, and SMEs.
GhISP is a technical assistance initiative that aims to increase investment flows to underserved SMEs in Ghana. The programme focuses on pipeline development, capacity building, gender smart investing, diversity lens investing, and climate aligned finance.
Through pre and post investment support, GhISP helps SMEs get investment ready and connects them to capital, supporting investments for Growth Investment Partners (GIP), other BII investees, and fund managers in Ghana to enhance development impact and strengthen returns.
The programme also supports capital providers to expand investment in SMEs by strengthening the supply of capital. GhISP is working with Ghana’s pension funds to channel more investment into local private capital intermediaries that finance SMEs while also supporting financial institutions to attract investment and scale up SME lending.
BII launched GhISP in April 2023 as part of its commitment to addressing the critical financing gap faced by Ghanaian SMEs. The SME financing gap in Ghana is estimated at 4.8 billion dollars, one of the largest in Africa.
SMEs account for over 92 percent of all enterprises in Ghana, comprise 70 percent of GDP, and account for 83 percent of all employment across the country. Despite their significance to the economy, the finance and technical support required to unlock their potential remains largely inaccessible to many businesses.
BII created GIP Ghana as a flagship platform to narrow the SME financing gap. By the end of 2025, GIP had invested in 15 SMEs, supporting over 3,400 jobs. The platform provides capital to SMEs of between 500,000 dollars and 5 million dollars through flexible financing options designed to meet the needs of local businesses.
BII’s investments in Ghana currently support over 15,000 jobs across key sectors including manufacturing, food security, energy, digital connectivity, and SME finance. In 2024, BII backed businesses contributed more than 3 million dollars in taxes to the Ghanaian economy.
The addition of SECO as a supporting partner marks a significant expansion of GhISP’s capacity to deliver technical assistance across Ghana’s SME ecosystem. SECO is the Swiss federal government’s center of excellence for international economic and labor policy matters.
The partnership aligns with the government’s broader strategy to mobilize private sector capital for economic development and job creation. Ms Arthur said the Ministry of Finance sees the initiative not just as a programme but as an investment in systems that improves Ghana’s investment ecosystem.
