By Ruth Aboagye
Feed the industries + targeted capital could create 500,000 jobs and unlock $5–10 billion in exports
Ghana’s economic reset is within reach, but it will require more than policy statements. It demands a decisive shift in how capital is deployed. As government advances the BIG Push, a stronger framework is emerging: BIG PUSHCAS (Capital Allocation Strategy) to fund production, secure raw materials, and scale exports.
At the center of this call is a proven but underused tool: equity participation in industry—a model Ghana once applied successfully through the historic partnership between National Investment Bank and Nestlé Ghana Limited.
Today, many argue that this model must return urgently. Others go further to argue that without it, the BIG PUSH risk becoming just another well branded slogan with limited industrial impact.
The lesson from NIB–Nestlé: Equity Built Industry
In Ghana’s early industrial era, the National Investment Bank did more than lend, it invested.
By taking equity stakes in strategic companies like Nestlé, NIB:
- Shared in long-term growth
- Reduced pressure from high-interest debt
- Enabled reinvestment into expansion
- Helped anchor industrial capacity that still exists today
The result: sustainable industrial growth, not short-term loan cycles
This was development finance working exactly as intended. That same boldness is largely absent today.
Today’s gap: debt without growth
Fast forward to today:
- Many agro-processors and manufacturers are heavily indebted
- High interest rates have limited expansion
- Factories operate below capacity due to cash flow constraints
- Financial institutions prioritise loan recovery over growth partnerships
Critically, key institutions like:
- Ghana Exim Bank
2.Development Bank Ghana
These institutions have not fully embraced equity participation at scale.
This has slowed Ghana’s ability to build globally competitive industries.
Why BIG PUSHCAS must include equity now
BIG PUSHCAS is about strategic capital allocation and equity must be central to it.
The Case for Equity:
- De-risks industrial expansion
- Aligns financiers with long-term success
- Frees companies from heavy debt servicing
- Enables scaling of factories and supply chains
What Must Change:
- Convert portions of existing industrial debt into equity
- Establish Value Chain Investment Funds
- Allow state-backed banks to act as co-owners, not just lenders
This is how Ghana funds growth, not just survival. If capital continues to behave defensively, industry will continue to perform defensively.
Feed the industries: where equity creates impact
Equity becomes most powerful when combined with Feed the Industries:
- Large-scale farms and estates need upfront capital
- Processing plants require expansion funding
- Supply chains need working capital
With equity:
- Investors share in output value
- Production cycles are fully funded
- Factories run 24 hours
This creates a closed-loop industrial system
The job and export payoff
With BIG PUSHCAS + equity-driven financing:
Jobs:
300,000–500,000 employment opportunities
Youth in farming, processing, logistics, services
Exports:
$5–10 billion annually from:
Processed foods & beverages
Oils & cosmetics (avocado, coconut, palm)
Fisheries & industrial products
Textiles and light manufacturing
These are not projections—they are achievable outcomes with the right capital model
High-income value chains need equity support
Strategic crops like:
Avocado (oil & cosmetics)
Passion fruit (premium juice)
Coconut (multi-product value chain)
…require patient capital, not short-term loans.
Equity financing allows:
3–5 year crop maturation cycles
Large-scale plantation development
Export-grade processing investment
This is where Ghana wins globally.
The urgent call to action
To unlock this transformation, government must:
- Embed equity financing into the BIG Push framework
- Mandate institutions like Ghana Exim Bank and Development Bank Ghana to adopt equity participation models
- Initiate debt-to-equity swaps for strategic agro-industrial companies
- Create public-private investment vehicles for value chains
- Tie all financing to Feed the Industries supply systems
Without enforceable directives, these recommendations risk being acknowledged but not implemented.
Final word: return to what worked
Ghana does not need to reinvent the wheel.
The NIB–Nestlé model showed the way:
- Invest in industry
- Share in growth
- Build lasting capacity
Today, Ghana must return to that philosophy at scale
BIG PUSHCAS + Feed the Industries + Equity Financing = True-Reset4Growth
This is not just a policy option.
It is a national imperative.
Act now and build the industries that will power Ghana for generations.
If we fail to act now as a nation, the country may not be short of ideas but it will remain short of industrial outcomes.
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