Ghana—Investment Support Programme

The Ghana Investment Support Programme (GhISP) is a technical assistance initiative designed to increase access to finance for Ghana’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on gender, inclusion, and climate investing.

Launched in 2023 by British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s development finance institution and impact investor, the initiative has since 2025 been co-funded by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

GhISP works to increase the number of investment-ready businesses and strengthen the broader investment ecosystem. It supports SMEs directly to become ready for investment and grow sustainably, while also working with investors and other market actors to improve how capital reaches these businesses. This assistance includes support to private capital portfolios such as Growth Investment Partners (GIP), which provides long-term, local currency financing to Ghanaian SMEs.

Sample Activities

• Providing tailored support before and after investment to help SMEs strengthen their operations and connect with appropriate sources of finance, including GIP and other relevant funds. This support includes product development, governance, environmental and social due diligence and management, and strategy development.
• Working with transaction advisors to improve the availability and quality of pre-investment and deal advisory services. This helps ensure SMEs can access affordable support to prepare for investment, while also enabling fund managers to more effectively invest in SMEs to improve development impact.
• Addressing gaps in knowledge and resources by commissioning research on topics including climate finance, pension funds and private capital, and gender and diversity, and by developing tools and templates to help SMEs and advisors meet investor expectations and align with international good practice.

Select Results

GhISP has provided 15 SMEs with tailored pre- and post-investment technical assistance, facilitating six investment deals totalling $15 million.

This assistance includes:

• Strengthening environmental, social, and governance practices: GhISP supported a manufacturing company to identify and address gaps in its environmental and social practices. Adoption of the proposed environmental and social management system, tailored to meet GIP’s investment requirements, was a key part of the company securing investment.
• Supporting business expansion and growth: GhISP developed a retail expansion strategy for a fruit and vegetable producer that needed to increase annual turnover to meet investment criteria. Within one year, the company exceeded its revenue targets and retail expansion goal, strengthening its position to attract investment.

GhISP also works with ecosystem partners to address broader constraints in the investment landscape. For example:

• Building investor capacity: The 12-month Knowledge Exchange Initiative equipped 58 institutional investors—including pension fund managers and trustees—with practical knowledge of private investment. As a result, 75 percent of participants reported increased institutional openness to private capital, and 66 percent indicated that the programme influenced internal allocation decisions. These changes have led to internal reforms such as policy revisions, trustee seminars, and improved investment memos.