Identification of best practices and mechanisms in the field of entrepreneurship development and access to finance in the context of Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality and Wassa East District of the Western Region of Ghana

The WAGES project supports entrepreneurship training for women and youth and business associations and cooperatives with the aim of helping improve local entrepreneurs’ access to business development and entrepreneur support services, especially for youth and women as well as increasing entrepreneurs’ access to financing for the development of their business (launch, consolidation, growth). This study was thus carried out to identify best practices and mechanisms in the field of entrepreneurship development and access to finance in the intervention areas. It was found that women and youth entrepreneurs face several challenges in accessing business development services in the intervention area. The challenges were the same for all entrepreneurs irrespective of gender and age category. The major challenge is the low capacity of the BAC – as the main BDS provider – to provide needed services due to inadequate personnel, logistics and funding. The staff of the BAC also need more training in community mobilization and innovative delivery strategies and emergent services. Low levels of education among entrepreneurs also affect access to BDS services in the intervention area. Many entrepreneurs do not see the need for services with no short-term benefits. Another major challenge is the lack of access to financing which adversely affects the financial ability of entrepreneurs to access business development services.