Ghana Start-up Bill drafting commences

The drafting process of the much-anticipated Ghana Startup Bill was officially launched on Friday, October 29, 2020, in Accra.

This exercise is been spearheaded by the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (NIEP), Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE), Ghana Start-up Network (GSN), Ghana Hubs Network (GHN), i4Policy and Private Enterprise Federation (PEF) with funding and technical support from GIZ Make IT.

Through this collaboration, a Technical Working Committee, made up of experts and the ecosystem enablers has been set up to champion the advocation action for the development and enactment of this Ghana Startup Act.

It is expected that within three months the committee will engage widely with all relevant stakeholders to come out with a draft Ghana Start-up Act which will among other things;

- set up an incentive framework for the creation and development of Start-ups in Ghana to promote creativity, innovation and the use of new technologies in achieving a strong added value and competitiveness at the national, regional and district levels.

- provide the legal backing for business starting and promotion of Start-ups for decent job and wealth creation, in accordance with the SDG 8, among others.

The committee will then present its final work – the draft Ghana Start-up Act, to the NEIP and subsequently to the Ministry of Business Development, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Attorney General, Parliament of Ghana, and the Office of the President, after which they will run series of advocacy to ensure the Act is passed by Ghana’s legislature.

It is expected that the stakeholder engagements will be done via workshops, one on one meetings, radio, television, social media, and most importantly via a dedicated website for the Bill – www.ghanastartupact.org. Every process of the journey will be published on this website, and the general public will mostly be welcomed to share their inputs, comments and recommendations via comment boxes and dedicated phone numbers which will be listed on the website.

The Project Coordinator, Mr. Sherif Ghana called on all stakeholders to support the drafting process and that they will ensure the Bill is passed quickly when it becomes available. “Passing this Act will help to a larger extend, curb the perennial youth unemployment and under-employment canker which has been a timebomb being sat on by the state Ghana.” He added

The Chairman of the Committee, Franklin Owusu mentioned that it is not to show that other African countries like Tunisia, Senegal, Rwanda, Kenya decided to adopt the startup act idea. I believe It is for a very crucial reason and Ghana being Africa’s business hub, needs to show leadership by setting the frameworks that will encourage the growth and viability of startup companies.

He ended his speech by calling on media to support the committee all throughout the process to ensure they do what is right and that they come out with a more inclusive co-created Ghana Startup Act.