Small Ghanaian businesses, which have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, are set to benefit from a new accelerator programme that ultimately aims to improve their financial resilience.

The global Catalyst Fund is expanding its inclusive fintech programme to provide digital-commerce start-ups in Ghana that provide solutions to small businesses with the tools needed to improve the livelihoods and financial resilience of micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

‘We aim to enable companies who are already tackling distinct problems in the digital-commerce space to better reach informal MSEs so they can leverage digital rails to improve their financial resilience for the future,’ says Catalyst Fund MD Maelis Carraro.

The Catalyst Fund’s new Inclusive Digital Commerce Accelerator is being rolled out across the country in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, an African technology-entrepreneur training programme

The two-year accelerator programme will offer six digital-commerce companies grants of up to US$120 000 each, as well as workshops, networking opportunities, training and expert-led venture acceleration support. The goal is to support the digitisation of MSEs in Ghana and improve their access to digital-commerce platforms and markets.

3 November 2020
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