Ghanaian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) could improve profitability, strengthen their access to finance and expand into new markets by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their daily operations, Kweku Hammond, a Senior Sales and Marketing Consultant and Faculty member at Nova Business School Africa, has said.
He said AI offered smaller businesses an opportunity to access capabilities traditionally available to large corporations, helping them reduce operational inefficiencies, improve customer service and make better-informed business decisions without the cost of building extensive in-house technology systems.
Mr Hammond made the observation in an article following a master class organised by the WERIse Network for its members and selected women entrepreneurs, where he discussed practical ways businesses could use AI to improve performance and scale.
He argued that the greatest economic value of AI for Ghanaian businesses lay not simply in adopting new technology, but in using affordable tools to address persistent constraints such as limited staff, inadequate business records, restricted access to finance and the high cost of reaching customers.
Ghana’s MSMEs account for more than 90 per cent of businesses and provide over 70 percent of employment, making their productivity and survival critical to job creation, household incomes and broader economic growth, according to figures cited in his article.
However, Mr Hammond said the adoption of AI remained low among local enterprises, citing a study of beneficiaries of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme which found that fewer than five percent of surveyed small and medium-sized enterprises were using the technology.
He identified limited digital skills, resistance to changing established business practices and inadequate infrastructure as major barriers, suggesting that expanding AI adoption would require practical training and organisational changes alongside access to technology.
For smaller businesses operating on tight margins, he said, AI could deliver immediate benefits in customer engagement, financial management, marketing and business planning.
He pointed to AI-powered chatbots integrated with WhatsApp Business as a relatively accessible way for enterprises to respond promptly to customer enquiries, particularly during busy periods when delayed responses could result in lost sales.
He also highlighted tools that generate marketing images and videos, allowing businesses in sectors such as fashion, food processing and personal care to produce professional promotional content without incurring the cost of traditional production services.
In financial management, AI tools could help business owners organise transaction records, generate spreadsheet formulas, identify sales patterns and monitor outstanding payments.
Mr Hammond said better record-keeping could also address one of the challenges confronting small businesses seeking formal credit: the absence of reliable and verifiable information about their operations.
By maintaining structured records of sales, expenses and cash flows, he said, MSMEs could improve the visibility of their financial performance and provide lenders with better information when assessing their creditworthiness.
He noted that such records would not automatically guarantee access to loans but could help businesses demonstrate their capacity to manage finances and meet repayment obligations.
Mr Hammond further argued that AI could help Ghanaian enterprises pursue opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which opens access to a continental market of about 1.2 billion people.
Through translation tools and AI-assisted content generation, businesses could prepare marketing materials in French, adapt product descriptions for different markets and communicate with prospective customers without necessarily employing multilingual staff or expensive external agencies.
He also encouraged enterprises in agriculture, food processing and distribution to explore AI applications that could support pest management, improve operational planning and help them use locally generated data to strengthen decision-making.
Beyond operational efficiency, he said, responsible AI adoption could become a competitive advantage, particularly for businesses seeking institutional customers and cross-border partnerships where data privacy, accountability and transparent business practices are increasingly important.
However, Mr Hammond cautioned against treating AI adoption as an end in itself, urging entrepreneurs to begin with practical problems that directly affect their businesses before investing in more complex solutions.
He said businesses should initially consider readily available tools, pursue partnerships for specialised needs and only explore developing their own AI systems when their operational requirements justified the investment.
He added that women entrepreneurs, who often balance business responsibilities with domestic and caregiving demands, could particularly benefit from tools that reduce administrative workloads and free up time for business development and strategic decision-making.
Mr Hammond called for greater access to training, affordable digital tools and business networks that would enable entrepreneurs to experiment with AI, exchange experiences and develop solutions suited to local market conditions.
He said the long-term competitive position of Ghanaian MSMEs would increasingly depend on their ability to integrate technology into business strategy rather than adopt it without a clear commercial purpose.
For Ghana, he said, helping smaller businesses use AI effectively could strengthen enterprise productivity, improve competitiveness and create a stronger foundation for sustainable business growth and employment.
