Ghana has made a bold, unambiguous pitch to American capital, presenting itself as the premier gateway to the African continent at the 3rd Africa-America Trade and Investment Summit in Cincinnati. The message, delivered by Deputy Chief of Staff Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, was one of a nation not seeking aid, but forging profitable, sovereign partnerships.
Central to the pitch is Ghana’s newly streamlined investment landscape. According to Bampoe Addo, the new Ghana Investment Promotion Authority Act has removed blanket minimum capital thresholds for most sectors and guarantees the transfer of dividends and proceeds for registered enterprises. This, she said, has led to Foreign Direct Investment nearly quadrupling in President Mahama’s first year.
The address highlighted specific, high-value sectors for American partnership. These include manufacturing and agro-processing, digital services and fintech, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and energy and critical minerals. “America… brings something Ghana needs at scale: expertise in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity and advanced logistics,” she stated, pointing to the frontiers of the next generation of US-Ghana business.
The speech also spotlighted concrete opportunities, such as the newly created Export Partnership Licence, which allows foreign entities to partner directly with the state-owned Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) to buy or off-take gold for export. Furthermore, the government’s “24-Hour Economy” policy was presented as a game-changer for investors, promising factories and logistics chains that never stop, supported by massive infrastructure projects like 261 new modern markets.
“Your investment is welcome, protected, and profitable with us,” Bampoe Addo told the room of executives and diplomats, leveraging the recent imagery of President Mahama ringing the Nasdaq closing bell. For American businesses, the message from Cincinnati was clear: Ghana is not just a market of 34 million, but a strategic, stable, and business-friendly door into the 1.4 billion-person African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).