While women-led ventures make up between 37% and 46% of businesses across sectors in Ghana, women entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative industries continue to face distinct gender-related challenges. These include limited access to formal financing, exclusion from intellectual property and distribution value chains, and underrepresentation in emerging digital and cross-border trade opportunities. In many cases, regulatory frameworks and creative industry ecosystems are not designed with gender inclusion in mind, further deepening structural inequalities.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s cultural and creative sectors are undergoing significant transformation, driven by policy and market shifts. The government’s recent adoption of the revised National Cultural Policy and the “Play Ghana” agenda are positioning local content at the center of growth, while AfCFTA opens new regional trade opportunities for creative goods and services. Digital innovation, such as music and film streaming platforms, online art marketplaces, and virtual cultural showcases, is expanding global reach for Ghanaian creators. Green practices in fashion, crafts, and heritage preservation are also gaining traction. These trends offer considerable potential for entrepreneurial growth, but without intentional inclusion strategies, they risk further marginalizing women entrepreneurs.

To address these challenges, the Ghana Green & Digital PSD programme — co-funded by the EU, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and implemented by RVO, UNCDF, and Expertise France — aims to support the emergence of a more inclusive, greener, and digitalised private sector. One of its specific interventions involves identifying and supporting a select number of entrepreneurs from two key sectors: CCI and Health/Pharma in their digitalization as well as in their quest to make their venture greener and more sustainable.

This inception study is therefore a critical first step in delivering this support. It will map and analyse both formal and informal entrepreneurial (MSMEs, start-ups) ecosystem in Ghana, assess gaps and opportunities for sectoral specialisation, and recommend concrete pathways for targeted women entrepreneurs under the project. The findings will directly inform the operationalisation of project activities related to Output 3 of the programme’s logframe: “Build capacity of entrepreneurs to apply digital solutions that would enhance business growth of MSMEs.” And more especially, dive into a more suitable capacity building service offering targeted to women & minority groups entrepreneurs, for their own digital and sustainable transformation.