Over the course of eighteen months, the Digitization and Hubs Capacity Strengthening Program is being implemented by the Ghana Hubs Network (GHN) with our support.
The GHN, which was established in 2017, is composed of over sixty innovation hubs across Ghana that collaborate to share resources, expertise, and ideas. Member hubs provide services to entrepreneurs, innovation hubs, development partners, and the government, leveraging an extensive and diverse network to offer incubation, acceleration, maker space, and other supportive services.
However, the GHN has identified two key challenges hindering its efforts to foster the innovation ecosystem in Ghana:
- the lack of centralised system to collect analyse data, and
- limited capacity among member hubs to enhance the resiliency of their business models, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era.
These challenges have a significant impact on the GHN's ability to address policy and investment decisions and tackle inconsistencies in services, products, opportunities, and challenges that require a mix of private sector, academic, and governmental support. To address these challenges, the Resiliency for Hubs project was conducted in partnership with Ashesi University and us. The project identified key issues, including disruptions to business and service models caused by the pandemic.
Josiah Eyison, Chairman of the Ghana Hubs Network interacting with participating hubs at HapaSpace in Kumasi, Ghana on the importance of getting to know people's interests, challenges and needs. © GHN/Fafa Pomanev
The Digitization and Hubs Capacity Strengthening Program, which began in 2022, aims to address these challenges by building a platform for effective data capture, processing, and the development of investment strategies, research, and policy insights. It aims to reinforce the internal systems of member hubs, focusing on fundraising and business development and human resources, particularly onboarding new staff. The program strengthens the capacity of hub managers and program leads to deliver measurable impact by focusing on their specific competencies.
To ensure sustainability, the GHN plans to create a talent exchange component that will harness the expertise and business development solutions of human resources within the network and partners, supporting the expansion of hubs and startups capacity strengthening.
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About the author: Yaw Adu-Gyamfi is an innovation researcher and ecosystem enabler utilizing the triple helix approach to facilitating engagement with academia, government and the private sector towards enhancing development, innovation, alternative intellectual policy making, learning and competence building in an African context.
