Citi’s media ecosystem has grown into one of Ghana’s most unlikely engines of local economic growth. What began as radio and television programming has expanded into a circuit of marketplaces and festivals that now channel customers, cash, and knowledge into the country’s small business sector. It is an intervention that feels almost invisible at first glance, yet its impact on vendors, farmers, and artisans is proving hard to ignore.
Ghana’s economy rests on small enterprises, from family-owned agro-processors to micro food vendors. They account for the majority of jobs, but their growth is often stunted by the same set of challenges: limited access to markets, fragile links to finance, and a slow shift into the digital economy. Without platforms to sell at scale, many remain trapped in survival mode.
This is the gap Citi has stepped into. By staging trade fairs, turning airtime into business education, and converting heritage festivals into commercial opportunities, Citi is providing the soft infrastructure that helps small firms grow. Free entry draws large crowds, reliable promotion lowers marketing costs for vendors, and partnerships with banks and telcos ensure that payments and credit are within reach. In doing so, the broadcaster has created an ecosystem that looks less like media and more like a growth accelerator.
The most visible example came this past weekend at the This Is Ghana Exhibition in Accra. More than 160 businesses filled Efua Sutherland Children’s Park with locally made products, and thousands of visitors walked the aisles. Exhibitors sold directly to consumers, collected instant revenues, and tested their products with real-time feedback. The consistency of the event, it sold out exhibitor slots last year as well, has made it a fixture on the SME calendar, allowing firms to plan inventory and staffing with confidence. For many, it is one of the few reliable channels to reach the mass market without paying for advertising or middlemen.
Earlier in June, Citi used the same venue to stage the maiden AgriFair. Farmers and small processors who normally struggle to reach city markets were able to sell produce and packaged goods directly to Accra consumers. Stock moved quickly, converting crops into working capital in days rather than weeks. The fair also brought in agri-tech firms and input dealers, who condensed months of farmer outreach into live demonstrations and sign-ups. Beyond sales, the event offered farmers price signals from the city that will shape their next planting and processing decisions.
Read More Here: AgriFair 2025 Closes with Strong Attendance, High Sales, and a Renewed Call for Local Agricultural Commitment | The High Street Journal
At the same time, June featured the Citi Business Festival, which turned radio and television airtime into a month-long classroom on finance, law, and technology. By linking sponsorships with banks to advisory and lending, the festival bridged knowledge and capital, nudging SMEs toward formalization and bankability. Archived sessions extended the reach further, providing entrepreneurs across the country with a growing library of practical, locally relevant business guidance.
Citi’s economic circuit is not limited to business and agriculture. Its Heritage Month food festival each March has grown into another platform where micro-vendors and caterers transform cultural expression into commerce. The event fills central Accra with regional dishes and artisanal products, offering another low-cost entry point for small producers to connect with urban consumers.
The thread across these platforms is clear. By removing barriers, whether entry fees, marketing costs, or payment failures, Citi reduces friction for SMEs. By bringing banks and telcos into the ecosystem, it nudges vendors toward digital payments and traceable transactions, laying the groundwork for access to finance. And by creating predictable, recurring events, it allows small businesses to build rhythm and confidence around growth.
The spillovers extend beyond the vendors. Hotels, ride-hailing drivers, and nearby restaurants all gain from the crowds that gather. For Accra, the events signal a thriving market culture to tourists and the diaspora. For sponsors, they provide visibility in an environment where their infrastructure, networks, finance, logistics, becomes indispensable.
Citi has not set out to be an economic actor, but in practice, that is what its ecosystem has become. In a country where small enterprises form the backbone of employment but face systemic barriers to growth, these platforms function as vital connectors between producers, consumers, and finance. They are not factories or industrial parks, but they are infrastructure all the same.
As Ghana doubles down on its made-in-Ghana agenda, Citi’s blend of fairs, festivals, and broadcast programming offers a blueprint for how media can do more than inform, it can power growth.
