In lecture halls, on university campuses, and across social media feeds in Ghana, many young people are quietly building thriving side businesses, not in the formal “office job” sense, but by importing and selling everyday essentials like cosmetics, clothes, and personal‑care items. One of them, a student who asked to remain anonymous (we call her “Beauty”), started with just GH¢ 400. Within a short period, she reports generating approximately GH¢ 50,000 from her imported goods, with restocking occurring regularly.
Beauty’s journey shows how modest capital, combined with digital know‑how and a pulse on peer demand, can lead to remarkable financial independence. She sources her goods through an agent in China who handles procurement and shipping. Her most popular items? Sheet masks and other beauty‑care products that resonate with fellow students. Marketing is simple: campus networks, social‑media posts, and word of mouth. And restocking happens every three months, reflecting consistent demand.
Behind her success lies a broader trend: the growing importance of informal trade and micro‑businesses among Ghana’s youth. According to the most recent survey by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), informal businesses, those operating outside formal registration and accounting systems, still dominate the landscape: about 92.3% of all businesses in Ghana are informal.
Moreover, informal cross‑border trade, which captures the flow of goods into and out of Ghana outside formal customs systems, remains significant. In the final quarter of 2024 alone, the value of such trade was estimated at GH¢ 7.4 billion, accounting for roughly 4.3% of total national trade. That magnitude gives a sense of how many livelihoods depend on small‑scale importation, resale, and informal commerce.
This environment of informality provides both opportunity and flexibility, especially for young people and students who might lack access to high capital, expensive licenses, or formal employment. The cost of starting a mini‑importation business can be low, as little as a few hundred cedis, but with demand for beauty products, clothing, and affordable personal‑care items among young Ghanaians, the profit potential is high. For Beauty, her venture went from pocket change to a full‑blown side business within months.
At the same time, informal trade functions as a safety net for many during economic uncertainty. While formal employment remains elusive for many youth, especially graduates, the informal economy provides a vital source of income and livelihoods. According to some reports, a majority of employed people in Ghana are engaged in informal sector work.
Yet the path isn’t without risks. As Beauty admits, government regulations and customs rules can disrupt operations. Shipments may be delayed if containers get held up, or worse, containers may be seized if even one item in a shared consignment is prohibited. That means any importer sharing a container can lose their goods, even if they followed the rules. Beauty’s story underscores that risk.
Still, for many young people, the benefits, financial independence, flexibility, and practical business experience, outweigh the risks. Importation offers a kind of informal entrepreneurship training: sourcing, logistics, inventory management, marketing, customer relations, and real‑world business lessons that conventional schooling doesn’t always teach.
For Ghana’s economy, this wave of youth-driven mini-importation and informal trade represents a double opportunity: first, to absorb underemployed youth into income-generating ventures; second, to meet consumer demand for affordable imported goods that the formal retail sector may not supply.
However, if this trend is to have a long-term, sustainable impact, there needs to be structural support. Data from the GSS suggests that informal trade is a core part of Ghana’s real economy, not a fringe phenomenon. What is needed, then, is government and institutional support: easier customs and importation procedures for small traders, access to micro‑credit, and perhaps pathways for informal businesses to formalize without losing their flexibility.
Beauty’s story shows that with a little capital, digital savvy, and a network of customers, even as simple as fellow students, it’s possible to turn a side hustle into a substantial income stream. What began as a small effort of self‑reliance may well become part of a broader youth‑led entrepreneurial shift reshaping how young Ghanaians earn, work, and imagine their future.
