Ghana’s push to attract investment and scale locally owned businesses beyond the domestic market is set to take centre stage as capital market executives, bankers, investment promotion agencies and trade officials converge in Accra next week.
The Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce (CanCham) will bring the players together at CEOs’ Connect 2026 on August 20 in Accra on the theme, “Financing the Future: Capital Strategies for Cross-Border Business Expansion.”
The gathering comes as businesses face a question that is becoming more urgent amid Ghana’s economic reset: where will the capital come from to finance the next phase of growth?
From ambition to bankable growth
The discussion is expected to move beyond the traditional search for bank loans to examine how companies can tap the stock market, private equity, blended finance, foreign investment and other forms of long-term capital.
At the centre of the programme will be a panel bringing together executives from institutions that control or facilitate different parts of the financing and investment pipeline.
They include Abena Amoah, Managing Director and CEO of the Ghana Stock Exchange; Simon Madjie, CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority; Dr. Mary Awusi, CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Authority; Cynthia E. Gnassingbe-Essonam, Director of Private Sector Engagement and Communications at the AfCFTA Secretariat; and Calleb Osei, Country Chief Financial Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana.
The combination is significant because businesses looking to expand across borders need more than money. They need access to investors, export markets, incentives, banking facilities and the regulatory framework that can make expansion commercially viable.
The capital gap behind expansion
For many Ghanaian companies, the challenge is no longer identifying opportunities. It is finding financing that matches the scale and duration of those opportunities.
Short-term bank funding can be poorly suited to companies investing in factories, technology, logistics networks or regional distribution systems, where returns may take years to materialise.
That makes alternative sources of capital increasingly important, including equity markets, private equity, venture capital, development finance and structured or blended financing.
CanCham CEO Edwina Atta-Sonno said the event is designed to connect companies seeking capital directly with institutions and investors capable of providing it.
“Ghanaian businesses are not short of ambition; what they are often short of is the right kind of capital, structured on the right terms,” she said.
“CEOs’ Connect 2026 puts the people who allocate that capital in the same room as the people who need it.”
Canada-Ghana trade moves beyond diplomacy
The event also comes as CanCham marks its 10th anniversary, giving the Chamber an opportunity to shift the focus of Ghana-Canada economic relations from dialogue towards measurable investment and commercial transactions.
The programme will cover investment opportunities in energy, agribusiness, technology, manufacturing, infrastructure and fintech, while also examining joint ventures, technology transfer and the policy environment for foreign direct investment.
The presence of the AfCFTA Secretariat adds another dimension, particularly for companies seeking to use Ghana as a base for reaching the wider African market.
For Canadian investors, the attraction is not simply Ghana’s domestic market but the possibility of using Ghanaian partnerships, manufacturing capacity and regional trade arrangements as a springboard into other African economies.
From boardroom talk to deals
The organisers are also betting on the business-to-business meetings that will follow the panel.
Those sessions are intended to turn the morning’s discussions into investment partnerships, trade arrangements and joint ventures, giving companies an opportunity to engage potential financiers and commercial partners directly.
Distinguished guests are expected to include Dr Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff, while Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama and Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana Myriam Montrat are listed among the special guests.
For CanCham, the objective is clear: after a decade of building a platform for Ghana-Canada business engagement, the next phase should be measured less by the number of meetings held and more by the capital mobilised, companies expanded and deals concluded.
As Ghana seeks to rebuild investor confidence and accelerate private-sector growth, the financing question could ultimately determine how much of that ambition becomes real economic activity.
