GhISP publications
To address identified knowledge and resource gaps, GhISP develops toolkits and guidance documents designed with the Ghanaian SME landscape in mind, and commission and publish research. GhISP publications are geared towards aligning advisory services with fund manager requirements and international standards and best practices, to ultimately:
Empower transaction advisors to better support and engage SMEs
Support fund managers to more effectively invest in SMEs to enhance development impact
Help improve SME investment readiness
Report: Lessons from BII’s market-building programme
In this report, British International Investment (BII) distils lessons from testing a more deliberate, programme-led approach to market-building, where the focus is on identifying and addressing the underlying factors that are holding markets back. This means bringing together investment capital with tools such as technical assistance, partnerships and convening powers to catalyse wider flows of investment.
The report presents the experiences and lessons using this approach to unlocking investments and shaping ecosystems in Ghana, Zambia and Nepal, alongside the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA).
Toolkit: SME Investment Readiness Toolkit and Scorecard
The GhISP SME Toolkit and Investment Readiness Scorecard was developed to help SMEs assess their level of investment readiness to best determine their next steps. It outlines the investment process, key sources of investments, Ghana’s investment landscape, different investor types and key requirements, as well as brief investor profiles to facilitate informed discussions between SMEs and investors.
Designed for SMEs looking for investors in Ghana, and for transaction advisors and fund managers to share with potential investees, the toolkit is sector agnostic and can be applied to a wide range of businesses and industries.
Directory: Transaction advisors
GhISP works to improve the availabilty and affordability of high-quality transaction advisory services for Ghana’s SMEs. This directory lists firms providing specialised expertise, including:
Legal & company secretaries
SME advisors
ESG consultants
Accounting firms
The directory details advisors’ sectors of expertise, types of advisory and contact details, and is updated regularly.
Research report: Pension Funds and Private Capital in Ghana
Ghana’s pension industry is at a strategic inflection point, marked by rapid asset growth and an increasing opportunity to mobilise domestic capital for private sector development.
This report examines how Ghana’s pension funds can evolve from passive capital holders into active participants in Africa’s private capital ecosystem. As the industry matures, the imperative is no longer whether to diversify, but how swiftly and effectively pension assets can be deployed into alternative investments.
Toolkit: Legal & Compliance
The Private Equity and Venture Capital Legal & Compliance Toolkit for SMEs and Transaction Advisers is a user-friendly guide to understanding PE/VC in Ghana from a legal and compliance perspective. It provides guidance on PE/VC structures, legal and compliance requirements for SMEs and other stakeholders in Ghana’s PE/VC ecosystem, including fund managers, investors, and legal and financial advisors.
The toolkit includes introductions to key documents required during a PE/VC fund’s investment in an SME and templates for each documents.
Research report: Climate Finance Investment Opportunities in Ghana
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the climate finance landscape in Ghana, focusing on three key aspects:
Build a list of climate finance sectors and activities in Ghana
Identify current climate finance investments in Ghana
Examine the diverse climate-impact investment opportunities offered by SMEs
By assessing the current financing landscape, the study seeks to identify gaps and investment opportunities, emphasising the need for a clear and consistently applied framework or taxonomy for climate finance.
Market landscape report: SME Investment Opportunities in Gender and Diversity Finance in Ghana
This landscape report presents the macroeconomic environment and SME landscape in Ghana, with a focus on gender (2X) and diversity (BOLD) eligible SMEs, outlines challenges faced by these businesses and proposes potential interventions. The purpose is to inform the design of interventions aimed at supporting gender and diversity and thereby enabling investments into underserved SMEs in Ghana.