Social Enterprise Ghana, the national network of social entrepreneurs and hubs working to develop a thriving ecosystem for the development of social enterprises, has called on government and financial institutions to invest in social entrepreneurs.

Executive Director of Social Enterprise Ghana, Edwin Zu-Cudjoe made this call during the 2nd edition of the Ghana Social Enterprise Forum held at Tomreik Hotel in Accra on the Theme: ‘Building Forward Stronger: The time to invest in the social entrepreneur is now.’

The forum brought together social about 3,0000 entrepreneurs, hubs, impact investors, government officials and policymakers, students, researchers, and the media to dialogue and share ideas on the way forward for investing and supporting social entrepreneurs.

In the keynote address presented on behalf of the Deputy Finance Minister, Director at the Ministry of Finance, Dr David Quist assured entrepreneurs of government’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and business owners.

“The 2022 budget holds a lot of support for entrepreneurs and government is making efforts to invest in entrepreneurs for job creation,” he said.

The Forum had panel discussions on women entrepreneurs and their impact on economic transformation, setting up funds to invest in social entrepreneurs and presentations on industry and academia collaboration for job creation.

There was also an Investor Dealsroom which saw about 35 businesses meeting up with seven financial institutions for investment. The financial institutions include Ecobank, Absa Bank, Fidelity Bank, Wangara, Afro Arab, Impact Capital, and SheEquity.

There were about 18 businesses that exhibited their products and services.

Social Enterprise Ghana (SE Ghana) is the national network for high-impact social entrepreneurs in Ghana.

SE Ghana has a current membership of 720 social enterprises operating in diverse sectors of climate-smart agribusiness, circular economy, health services, inclusive financial services, TVET, and education.

SE Ghana advocates for business-friendly policies for social enterprises and supports members with training, research, access to skills, access to market, access to technology, and access to finance.

SE Ghana has a goal of increasing funding to social enterprises by catalysing $1billion dollars for social enterprises in Ghana by 2030.