The lack of access to finance and dearth of information about where entrepreneurs can seek financing for their ventures remain the biggest barriers for entrepreneurs seeking to scale within the entrepreneurship eco-system.
As a response to this need, the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) on 2nd March 2020 launched the GCIC Investor Directory, Ghana’s very first online directory of funds providers. The directory, a dynamic database which provides access to the most relevant potential investors was built in partnership with Allied Crowds, a leading data analytics and advisory firm focusing on alternative finance in the developing world.
The launch of the portal took place during a breakfast meeting to discuss the state of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Ghana – organized as part of the series of events forming part of Incubating Innovation 2020.
The GCIC Investor Directory which can be accessed withing the GCIC website (www.ghanacic.org) has the following features:

1. A Simple interface that allows entrepreneurs to search for the most relevant potential investor -based on factors such as the sector of business the investor is interested in, type of investor (impact, venture capital, private equity etc), the type of capital they investor provides (debt, equity, grants), and the average ticket sizes. There is also the ability to filter for investors interested in female led businesses.

2. Provides detailed information on investors to enable entrepreneurs better understand the investors and their specific interests. For every investor, the directory provides their deal history, key contacts, address and sectors of interest. This ensures that entrepreneurs can zone in on the most relevant potential investors when seeking financing.

Speaking at the launch, GCIC’s Entrepreneurship Director, Abdul-Nasser Alidu, described the investor directory as a game changer that will help entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa to easily identify investors who are interested in Africa and Ghana. – “the best part is that we have made the directory freely available online. This means every entrepreneur or small business owner anywhere in Ghana can access the information. All they need is internet access”. Abdul-Nasser also further affirmed GCIC’s commitment to providing relevant and timely support for climate smart business ventures within the ecosystem.
Watch the video below for more information about how the GCIC Investor Directory works.

The launch event which took place at the British Council in Accra, and was well attended by key players in the entrepreneurial eco-system – including representatives from the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, under the Office of the President, The Ghana Hubs Network, GCIC Entrepreneurs, the donor community, the British Council as well as the investor community.