ANDE West Africa impact story

Convening to accelerate SGB growth

In July 2022, ecosystem actors from across Africa and beyond gathered in Accra for the annual ANDE West Africa Regional Conference. The theme ‘Accelerating SGB Growth in Africa’ elicited many ideas that evolved into initiatives and actions to turn ambitions into reality.

The newly formed Development Bank of Ghana delivered the keynote address and highlighted systemic challenges facing SGBs, and its ambitions to build a foundation of trust and relationships to support economic growth across Ghana.

From the conference, a Business Advisory Working Group was formed to address the challenges faced in the BDS ecosystem. Its purpose is to build a strong and organised entrepreneurial ecosystem, supporting the growth of SGBs.

2022 ANDE West Africa Regional Conference. Accra, July 2022.

In December 2022, ANDE West Africa and the working group organised a bilingual (English and French) workshop on ‘BDS from the Lens of SGBs’ to look at the challenges that keep SGBs from utilising BDS support in the region. ANDE West Africa will create a consolidated platform in 2023 to address these challenges and amplify the voice of BDS providers.

The conference also saw the launch of the Ethics 1st Campaign with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). The campaign aims to assist the private sector’s compliance with internationally recognised standards of best corporate practice around ethics and integrity. Following this, Rainbow Consult and Wangara Green Ventures became the first ANDE members to sign up to Ethics 1st, and as Ethics 1st Champions are mobilising the SGBs they support to also sign up to the campaign.