British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s development finance institution, has published a new report crediting its Ghana Investment Support Programme (GhISP) with helping to shape its broader market-building approach, which will form a central pillar of its 2026 to 2030 strategy.
The report, released on 17 April 2026, details how GhISP has, in three years of operation, supported six small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to secure investment worth $9 million, completed or commenced 15 technical assistance (TA) projects, and engaged 22 Ghanaian pension funds to channel more capital into the private sector.
The Ghana programme has also triggered a 50 to 70 percent reduction in advisory fees for SMEs, following a partnership GhISP brokered between the Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Ghana (GVCA) and all four major accounting firms operating in the country.
BII describes the Ghana experience as a proof point for a programme-led approach to development finance that goes beyond individual transactions. Rather than addressing investment barriers case by case, the approach involves combining investment capital with TA, policy engagement, and convening power to tackle the structural conditions that prevent capital from reaching markets where it is most needed.
The report sets out three channels through which the approach works: building demand for capital by making businesses investment-ready, increasing the supply of capital by helping investors understand and adapt to unfamiliar markets, and strengthening the broader investment ecosystem. In Ghana, the principal challenge identified was the financial sector’s limited capacity to serve capital-starved SMEs, a constraint distinct from other markets such as Nepal, where regulatory barriers were the binding constraint.
BII has acknowledged that the Ghana programme model directly informed the design of the Zambia Investment Support Programme, which launched in 2025 and has already supported 15 SMEs with TA and unlocked one deal worth $2 million.
Across its full portfolio of market-building programmes, which includes operations in Nepal, Zambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and seven African frontier markets through the Africa Resilience Investment Accelerator (ARIA), BII reports 32 investments unlocked worth $415 million and more than 80 businesses and financial institutions supported with TA to reach investment readiness.
The GhISP is powered by BII and supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The full report is available at ghisp.org.
