From Accra to Kumasi: Ghana Broadens AFCFTA Investment Pitch Beyond the Capital
Ghana is seeking to turn its position at the centre of Africa’s continental free-trade project into a broader investment advantage, using its hosting of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to strengthen its case as a gateway for companies seeking access to markets across the continent.
Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, says the country should position itself not merely as a destination for foreign capital but as a platform from which companies can build, produce, innovate and expand into Africa.
The strategic opportunity is considerable, but the harder question is whether Ghana can convert diplomatic visibility into commercially competitive production.
Speaking at a London International Leadership Roundtable of the Asante Business Summit, Mrs Benson said Ghana’s institutional, cultural and entrepreneurial assets could be combined with international capital, expertise and diaspora networks to drive investment. “In Asanteman, the institution of chieftaincy has been an enduring source of identity, continuity and social cohesion,” she said. “There is considerable opportunity in bringing together the strengths of traditional institutions, government, private enterprise and the diaspora.”
The proposition is particularly important for an economy of Ghana’s size because the domestic market alone may not provide sufficient scale to sustain major industrial expansion across multiple sectors.
AfCFTA potentially changes that equation by allowing Ghanaian companies to think beyond the boundaries of the local market and by giving foreign investors a reason to consider Ghana as a production or services base for wider African markets. But hosting the Secretariat does not automatically make Ghana the continent’s preferred gateway.
The real competition will be over the cost and reliability of doing business. Investors will compare Ghana’s energy prices, ports, roads, customs systems, access to finance, skills base, regulatory certainty and taxation with competing locations across Africa before deciding where to establish factories or regional operations.
A diplomatic advantage can open doors, but it cannot compensate indefinitely for operating costs that make production less competitive.
Mrs Benson acknowledged that Ghana’s investment strategy must therefore move beyond broad statements about potential. “Across our regions, there are opportunities in agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, infrastructure, technology, tourism, the creative economy and many other sectors,” she said.
“Our task is to connect these opportunities with the capital, expertise, technology and international networks required to take them to scale.”
The emphasis on scale goes to the heart of Ghana’s economic challenge. The country has long marketed political stability, natural resources and geographic position as reasons for investors to choose it, but investment inflows have not always produced sufficient industrial depth or export diversification.
AfCFTA raises the stakes because the value of being a gateway depends on whether Ghana can become a place where goods and services are actually produced competitively for regional markets rather than simply imported, traded or re-exported.
Agriculture offers one of the clearest tests. Ghana can continue exporting raw commodities or use the continental market to justify larger investments in agro-processing, packaging, logistics and branded consumer products capable of reaching customers beyond its borders.
The same principle applies to minerals: greater economic value comes from processing and manufacturing around the resource base rather than relying almost exclusively on extraction and raw exports.
Manufacturing, technology and services present similar opportunities. A company locating in Ghana could potentially serve consumers across multiple African markets, improving the economics of establishing larger-scale operations if trade barriers are genuinely reduced. Yet that advantage exists only if goods can leave a Ghanaian factory, cross borders efficiently and reach other markets at a competitive total cost.
“For many years, we have spoken about Ghana’s potential,” Mrs Benson said. “We need investment that creates jobs, develops skills, strengthens Ghanaian businesses and expands our capacity to produce competitively for domestic, regional and global markets.”
The distinction is crucial because the quality of investment matters as much as the quantity: capital that creates productive capacity, transfers technology and develops domestic suppliers provides a deeper economic return than investment that remains disconnected from the local economy.
That places economic diplomacy under greater scrutiny. Mrs Benson said the High Commission’s role increasingly involves connecting investors to credible opportunities and Ghanaian businesses to international partners capable of turning discussions into actual projects.
“Through our Economic Diplomacy mandate, we are here to help connect investors with credible opportunities, connect Ghanaian businesses with international partners and help facilitate relationships that result in real projects,” she said.
The phrase “real projects” should become an important benchmark. Ghana does not merely need announcements, memoranda of understanding or investor delegations; it needs projects that add productive capacity, employ people, earn foreign exchange and build domestic capabilities.
The stronger investment partnerships will be those that transfer technology, train Ghanaian workers and integrate local suppliers into regional and international value chains.
The diaspora could become another source of capital and expertise, particularly at a time when Ghana’s fiscal space remains constrained.
“The private sector brings capital, innovation and commercial discipline. And our diaspora provides international networks, expertise and access to markets,” Mrs Benson said, arguing that these strengths can be combined around credible projects and transparent structures.
Private investment, development finance and diaspora capital will increasingly have to carry parts of Ghana’s infrastructure and industrial ambitions that government cannot finance entirely from the budget.
The investment strategy must also extend beyond Accra. Mrs Benson highlighted Kumasi and the wider Ashanti Region as historic centres of trade, entrepreneurship, craftsmanship and culture, arguing that Ghana’s regional cities should play a larger role in economic transformation. “Kumasi and other historic cities in Ghana have long been recognised as centres of commerce, entrepreneurship, craftsmanship and culture for people across the country and sub-region,” she said.
That geographic diversification could strengthen Ghana’s AfCFTA proposition if each major urban centre develops complementary economic functions. Kumasi could deepen its role as an inland manufacturing and commercial hub, Tamale could strengthen links into northern
Ghana and the Sahel, while Takoradi could leverage its port, energy and industrial base. Regional specialisation could also spread the benefits of investment more broadly instead of concentrating productive activity around Accra.
“When investment succeeds in Kumasi, Accra, Tamale, Takoradi, Ho, Sunyani or any other part of the country, Ghana succeeds,” Mrs Benson said. The statement captures the scale of the opportunity but also the burden of execution facing government.
AfCFTA gives Ghana institutional visibility, but infrastructure, regulation and industrial competitiveness will determine whether that advantage becomes economic substance.
Ghana’s gateway claim will therefore ultimately be judged by outcomes rather than geography or diplomacy. The country must show that hosting Africa’s free-trade Secretariat can help produce factories, exports, technology transfer, skilled jobs and stronger Ghanaian companies capable of competing across the continent.
Ghana already has a seat at the centre of Africa’s integration project; the harder task now is making itself commercially indispensable to the businesses that want to use that market.
