Do we Throw our Hands in the Air

The business climate in Ghana is insidious! 

The unemployment rate in Ghana stands at a disputed 13% as at 2025 from a quarterly data source. An estimated total population of 35.7 million would imply that approximately 5 million Ghanaians are unemployed. Per the statistic, most of these people are of the median age of 21.6 years.

What is this predominantly youthful population supposed to do? I personally know youth in this country who have all but failed to find the so-called white-collar jobs to do. Leaving them to attempt some blue collar jobs or just die trying (by beginning some entrepreneurial venture).

This is often complicated by a fiercely cut-throat entrepreneurial and business environment. While the Dangotes, Kwame Despites, the Ofori-Sarpongs, Ibrahim Mahamas, the Dr Otengs, and the Richard Bransons are very much likely outliers in the entire gamut of experiences, and while other mainstream entrepreneurs like Shirley Frimpong Manso, Nana Aba Anamoah, Yvonne Nelson, Serwaa Amihere and a few like them seem to make a headway, the entrepreneurial journey itself is no joke!

Anyone who has either attempted to start or has tried to sustain their SME even for a short term will agree that it seems a clear case of survival of the fittest. First of all, a starting capital is very hard to come by. The investor climate is not fertile. In any case, who will trust their hard-earned money to a fresh graduate, or with someone who is barely breathing in the current business climate? The unskilled labour can be so pervasive. You will often find artisans charging more than the actual cost of a service, and they do it as if they are the realest, most honest people you could find. Meanwhile they are 100 percent of the time merely cheating you. 

Assuming you manage to find the capital for your start-up, you now must go into the highly dodgy skill of marketing. Some are obvious born marketers, acing it and making a turnover that is well worth the work. But realistically speaking, most of the time, marketing is another steep slope which takes days and days to master in order to allow you make any meaningful profits at all.

What then shall we do? Shall we throw our hands in the air? Easier as the option might seem, you and I cannot merely throw our hands in the air. We have got to fight and keep fighting. Is it Hearts of Oak who go to so much lengths as to even suggest: “Until the bones are rotten?” I believe so. If it is until the bones are rotten, then while we live, we cannot but keep fighting. Life will keel over if we determine to NOT let up. 

So fellow brethren, let us keep going !