Doing Business in Ghana

An entrepreneur considered investing in tomato paste manufacturing in Ghana, an emerging economy, and pondered the opportunities and challenges of investing here. Ghana's economy had been growing over the last decade, reaching a peak of 14.4% growth rate in 2011. Now a low middle-income country of the Sub-Saharan region, it was also known for its stable political situation. The country offered several business opportunities. Nevertheless, it was still not that easy to set up and manage a business in Ghana, compared to Western countries. The entrepreneur had decided to invest in tomato paste production. Ghana was the second largest consumer of tomato paste in the world in per capita terms, but imported most of its tomato paste, despite the fact that the country produced tomatoes. In addition, its neighboring country Nigeria was also a strong consumer, and importer, of tomato paste. The case describes Ghana's economy, its political context, and its business culture as well as the main opportunities Ghana offered and the main challenges entrepreneurs faced when doing business in Ghana. It also describes in more detail Ghana's tomato paste industry and the challenges the entrepreneur would face while setting up her own plant.