Hello Friends,
Welcome to the Ghana Innovation Journal newsletter, your guide to Ghana’s innovation ecosystem. Blitz through what happened in week 46 in the innovation landscape.
Milestones
Two startups celebrated their business anniversary. Wear Ghana marked 10 years while Built Accounting marked 7 years in business. Judging from the startup failure statistics, the founders of both companies deserve the national “Order of the Volta” award. According to WeeTracker’s research, 73.91% of Ghanaian startups failed between 2010 and 2018, which is relatively high compared to the Africa average rate of 54.20%.
Wear Ghana, a Mirepa Capital-backed ready-to-wear fashion brand in the last 9+ years, has grown by an average of 100% (YoY) in revenues. The company is led by Awura Abena Agyeman. Led by Edward Neequye, Built Accounting provides financial tools such as accounting and payroll software to aid SMEs in making better decisions. Earlier in the year, the company closed an undisclosed funding from investors, including Consonance Investment.
Techaide, the edtech that provides offline, free local educational content via its low-cost, low-powered learning management system, secured $20,000 as the third-place winner of the Africa Union’s Education Innovation Prize. Techadie’s ASANKA plays a crucial role in education by facilitating content sharing without internet access, enabling schools to offer uninterrupted blended learning experiences while tracking attendance through gathered analytics that can be shared with stakeholders.
Policies
In the 2024 budget and economic statement, the Finance Minister outlined some policies that will benefit the ecosystem.
– The government plans to waive import duties on semi and complete knocked-down electric vehicles imported by EV assembling companies in Ghana for 8 years. The state will extend the zero VAT rate on locally assembled vehicles for 2 years.
– Imported agricultural machinery and inputs will be granted tax exemptions to boost agriculture.
– The Business Regulatory Reform Bill will be enacted to improve the quality and transparency of regulatory administration and establish a predictable regulatory environment
– The Development Bank Ghana will establish a Private Equity/Venture Capital fund-of-funds to invest in seasoned fund managers to invest in SMEs.
– The Venture Capital Trust Fund will commit $14 million to additional venture capital funds. In 2023, it committed $16 million to the Injaro Ghana Venture Fund, Industrial Support Fund, Mirepa SME Fund, and Wangara Green Ventures.
Product Launch & Expansion
To improve access to information barriers hindering insurance penetration in Ghana, insurance broker and CEO of iRisk Management, Sheila Wristberg, has developed the InsureGPT Ghana, a cutting-edge AI tool tailored for the Ghanaian insurance market. The tool simplifies insurance information, making it more accessible and understandable. Hopefully, the tool will help increase insurance penetration beyond the current 1% of GDP.
Konzoom, the on-demand grocery delivery startup, has launched its app to provide users with a convenient way to shop for groceries. The new platform offers bulk buying options, and new users will get 10% off their first order. Since its launch in December 2021, Konzoom has delivered orders to customers across Accra, Tema, and beyond.
INNGEN Technology, the Swiss company that helps companies extend their IT capabilities by leveraging remote service delivery from Sub-Saharan Africa, has opened an office in Accra. The company has onboarded 40+ young professionals and aims to employ 100 by year-end.
Finally, Motito, the buy-now-pay-later fintech, represented Ghana at this year’s KPMG Private Enterprise Global Tech Innovator competition in Lisbon. Although the team didn’t win the global crown, they got the opportunity to exhibit their innovation to the world.
From the team
Thank you for reading! See you for the next edition. For any comments, exclusive stories, or features, just hit us up at info@theinnvoationspark.com
