By: Ashiadey Dotse
Government Statistician, Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu, has revealed that women manage 56.3% of enterprise establishments in Ghana and own 84% of businesses operating at fixed open locations.
He said the findings highlight the important role women play in Ghana’s business sector, particularly among enterprises operating outside conventional business premises.
Speaking at the launch of the Ghana in Numbers 2025 report in Accra on Thursday, October 29, 2026, Dr. Iddrisu said the 2024 national enterprise count recorded a total of 2.64 million businesses across the country.
He explained that the exercise was the first of its kind to include businesses operating inside buildings, at fixed open locations and those moving around, such as mobile traders.
According to him, out of the 2.64 million enterprises recorded, about 1.87 million operated inside buildings, nearly 694,000 operated at fixed open locations, while approximately 83,000 were mobile businesses.
Dr. Iddrisu said the findings also showed that the number of establishments operating inside buildings had nearly tripled between 2014 and 2024, while the number of people employed by them had only doubled.
He noted that the figures suggested that business establishments were growing faster than the jobs they created.
The Government Statistician further disclosed that nine out of every 10 establishments employed between one and five people, highlighting the dominance of small businesses in the country’s economy.
He added that only 4,874 establishments employed 100 or more people, but these businesses accounted for one in every five workers.
On business registration, Dr. Iddrisu said only 7.7% of the recorded establishments were formally registered, leaving about 92% operating outside the formal business system.
He described the level of informality as significant and called for measures to address the situation.
The report also showed that 37.2% of the establishments used digital financial services, indicating the extent to which businesses were adopting digital finance.
Dr. Iddrisu said the enterprise count provided important information on the number, location, size and formal status of businesses in Ghana.
He stressed that the findings would help policymakers better understand the business environment and develop policies to support enterprise growth and job creation.
