The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has released the first-ever national report on mobile businesses, revealing that more than 82,900 Ghanaians operate businesses on the move, including hawkers, porters, and traders using vehicles, carts, and motorcycles.
The 2024 Integrated Business Establishment Survey Phase I (IBES I) provides a comprehensive profile of this dynamic segment of the informal economy, which has traditionally gone unmeasured in official statistics.
The report highlights the critical role mobile businesses play in providing employment, income, and access to goods and services across the country.
Women lead the sector, accounting for 77.5 percent of operators, with a total of 64,237 women engaged in mobile trading.
Youth participation is also significant, with more than 52,000 operators aged between 15 and 35 years, underscoring mobile trading as an important pathway to entrepreneurship and employment for young Ghanaians.
Geographically, mobile businesses are concentrated in major urban areas, with Greater Accra and Ashanti regions together hosting more than half of all operators.
The Accra Metropolitan area alone recorded 5,321 mobile businesses, while Kumasi Metropolitan had 3,792.
Despite the sector being overwhelmingly Ghanaian, the report identified 2,087 children aged 10–14 involved in mobile businesses, 80 percent of whom are girls, highlighting concerns about child protection and school retention.
The survey also found that business ownership increases with age, with only 14.7 percent of children aged 10 to 14 owning the goods they sell, compared with over 91 percent of operators aged 65 and above.
Mobile businesses operate under challenging conditions, often with limited capital, minimal access to formal finance, and exposure to harsh weather, long working hours, and unstable earnings, the survey found.
The GSS recommends expanding access to microfinance and digital financial services, strengthening skills development and vocational training, and integrating mobile businesses into urban planning to enhance safety, productivity, and economic growth.
The report also urges government and development partners to support informal workers with social protection measures, including flexible health insurance, pension schemes, and income support, while promoting digital tools for bookkeeping, mobile payments, and financial literacy.
According to the GSS, recognising and supporting mobile businesses is essential for inclusive economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction, particularly for women and youth, who rely heavily on this sector for livelihoods.
The IBES I report provides policymakers with the data needed to plan interventions that strengthen mobile business operations, improve their resilience, and integrate them into the broader national economy, in line with Ghana’s Sustainable Development Goals.
