Across Ghana and much of Sub-Saharan Africa, business growth is colliding with a stubborn, costly reality: weak infrastructure and uneven technology access.
- Infrastructure and Technology Risk as a Barrier to Growth
- What’s Holding Back Progress? A Systemic View
- An Uneven Playing Field: Ghana’s Digital and Startup Ecosystem
- What Must Change? A Shared Responsibility
- A Critical Risk for Every Sector
- The Cost of Inaction is Compounding
- Turning Risk Into Opportunity
In the latest episode of Doing Business in Africa, Sompa & Partners put a spotlight on this challenge, warning that infrastructure and technology risks are not just issues for tech companies, they cut across every sector.
It’s a hard but necessary conversation: How can businesses hope to scale, innovate, or compete in a landscape where roads, ports, data networks, and skilled tech workers are all in critically short supply?
Infrastructure and Technology Risk as a Barrier to Growth
This episode builds on the Sompa National Risk Dimensional Report, which breaks down the major risk categories facing businesses operating in Ghana and the wider continent.
Previous discussions have explored political risk, economic and financial risk, legal and regulatory frameworks, security, socio-cultural dynamics, and climate risk.
Now, the series turns to infrastructure and technology, a dimension that underpins them all. As Sompa explains, it’s about “the ability to support economic activity, operations, and innovation through adequate infrastructure and technological advancement.”
And by most measures, that capacity remains underdeveloped.
What’s Holding Back Progress? A Systemic View
The episode details several critical pain points, each of which demands serious attention:
- Poor Transport Networks
Many roads remain in a state of disrepair, creating delays, cost overruns, and safety risks. Rail infrastructure is limited or outdated. For any business moving goods, these realities inflate costs and limit reach. - Port Congestion and Logistics Gaps
Port inefficiencies, including congestion and bureaucratic delays, directly disrupt trade flows and drive up shipping costs. For a country that relies on imports and exports, this is a structural disadvantage. - The Digital Divide
Despite impressive mobile penetration rates, there is a deep urban–rural split in internet access. Connectivity remains low in many areas, and data costs are high even in cities. Slow adoption of newer technologies like 5G widens this gap further. - Tech Talent Drain
While Ghana’s startup ecosystem is growing, retaining skilled developers and engineers remains a struggle. Brain drain continues as local talent looks for better opportunities abroad, leaving a critical gap in capacity. - Cybersecurity Risks
As businesses digitize, threats from cyberattacks and data breaches are growing. Weak institutional protections and low levels of digital literacy compound this risk, threatening consumer trust and operational continuity.
An Uneven Playing Field: Ghana’s Digital and Startup Ecosystem
It’s not all bad news. The episode acknowledges the growth of Ghana’s tech ecosystem, with more startups, hubs, and investment interest than ever before.
But bureaucracy and complex licensing processes can slow this momentum. Startups face regulatory uncertainty and friction that discourage local innovation from scaling quickly.
Similarly, while mobile money infrastructure has achieved significant adoption, becoming the de facto payment method for millions, this success contrasts with gaps in broadband rollout and the slow spread of 5G.
For many businesses, these realities mean building in redundancy, back-up systems for internet outages, alternative logistics routes, or strategic warehousing, to hedge against infrastructure failures.
What Must Change? A Shared Responsibility
The episode doesn’t just diagnose the problem, it calls for action at multiple levels:
Governments and Development Partners Must:
- Invest in smart, resilient infrastructure, going beyond roads to include broadband, energy, and reliable transport corridors.
- Enforce data protection frameworks and strengthen cybersecurity institutions to build trust.
- Incentivize the growth of local innovation ecosystems, reducing bureaucratic barriers for startups.
Businesses Must:
- Diversify logistics strategies to manage operational delays and port congestion.
- Invest in cybersecurity resilience, especially if handling consumer data or payments.
- Engage with public-private innovation hubs to bridge policy gaps and advance technology adoption.
- Build strategic warehousing to mitigate transport unpredictability.
- Ensure internet redundancies in critical operations.
- Leverage mobile money as an essential payment method to reach consumers.
- Prioritize talent development, training staff and creating retention strategies to stem the tech talent drain.
A Critical Risk for Every Sector
One of the most important messages from the episode is that these issues are not just “IT problems.” They are bottom-line risks that can make or break a business.
Whether it’s an FMCG firm navigating poor road networks, a fintech startup worrying about data breaches, or a manufacturer battling port delays, infrastructure and technology gaps are strategic risks.
For many companies, ignoring them simply isn’t an option.
The Cost of Inaction is Compounding
Sampa’s team warns that the cost of failing to address these risks is invisible but cumulative. Lost hours on bad roads. Spoiled goods stuck in ports. Abandoned carts due to poor mobile data service. Security breaches that erode consumer trust.
Every day that these gaps remain unaddressed is a day of lost productivity, missed opportunity, and rising competitive disadvantage.
Turning Risk Into Opportunity
Ultimately, Doing Business in Africa offers a balanced message: the risks are real, but so is the opportunity.
Infrastructure and technology gaps are problems precisely because they represent unmet demand. Companies that help close these gaps, by investing in better logistics, improving digital access, training talent, or enhancing cybersecurity, don’t just reduce their own risk.
They unlock new markets. They earn loyalty. They help shape a more resilient, dynamic economy.
For businesses willing to see the full picture, Ghana’s infrastructure and technology challenges aren’t just costs to be managed, they’re frontiers to be transformed.
Stay tuned to Sompa & Partners’ “Doing Business in Africa” series as we continue to explore these dimensions, helping you navigate the continent’s risks, and seize its extraordinary potential.
