Starting a new business venture in Ghana can be a challenging task. There are many obstacles such as difficult access to finance, navigating market instabilities, and finding appropriate training and business advice.

However, through our long-standing relationship and engagement with the Ghana Chamber of Entrepreneurs with Disabilities (GCED), we have discovered that the journey and growth are much harder for entrepreneurs with disabilities. They face a widespread lack of understanding and even active discrimination from financial institutions, business consultants, and enterprise support services.

To address this issue, last December we collaborated with Fidelity Bank Ghana - a commercial bank with a focus on enterprise development and community empowerment - to pilot a highly interactive four-day entrepreneurship bootcamp in Koforidua, Eastern region of Ghana, to empower entrepreneurs with disability and stimulate the dynamic growth of their enterprises for sustainability. 

Bridging access to formal entrepreneurship training and capacity building

We worked with the Fidelity Bank team to give specialized business training to 53 entrepreneurs with disabilities, as part of our collective ambition to bridge access to capacity-building for the marginalized in society. We focused on building the participants' entrepreneurial mindsets and equipping them with the skills they needed to build and manage businesses.

We covered topics like design thinking, product design, practical steps to starting and managing a small business, financial management and pitch training. The bootcamp ran for four days, with sessions lasting at least 5 hours each day. 

The outcome of the Bootcamp

Before the Bootcamp, we conducted a needs assesment among the participants. 87% of them hadn't had any formal business training and were eager to learn how to run a business. The other 13% had some training through GCED and had a basic understanding of managing a business. 75% of all participants were women, many had previously attempted to set up a business.

The Bootcamp was well attended, with 95% participation for day 1 and 100% participation for days 2 to 4. Participants expressed their satisfaction with the effectiveness of the program and demonstrated increased knowledge. They found it particularly useful that the trainings focused on everyday challenges entrepreneurs with disabilities face and how to address them.

The story of Charity

Charity is one of the women who took part in the Bootcamp. She had to quit her job at a local bank to dedicate complete attention and care for her 4-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy. 

To support her family, Charity started her own business. She makes a popular Ghanaian breakfast porridge called “tom-brown”, which is made from roasted soybeans, groundnut, maize, fish powder and other local spices and products. She has, however, been out of business for a while - she was losing money because she lacked fundamental accounting skills. Following her attendance at the bootcamp.

After the bootcamp, Charity felt more confident and ready to restart her business, thanks to her improved entrepreneurial mindset and financial skills.

We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Fidelity Bank Ghana to empower entrepreneurs with disabilities in Ghana to build profitable and sustainable businesses.