List of The Top 15 Tech Hubs in Ghana
The world is changing each day because of technology. For example, how we used to communicate with our relatives outside Ghana in 2000 is not the same as today.
According to our older relatives and what we have read in some books and watched in movies before you could speak to your relatives outside in the olden days, you had to write a letter, post the later, wait for the letters to accumulate for it to be sent.
Once the letters were sent, the person had to go and check his/her mailbox, read the letter, reply, send it, and wait for the same process over again. But now, with just a tap of a button, you can chat with your relatives outside for as long you want to.
All these changes were made possible through technology. In Ghana, there are some institutions that are constantly helping Ghanaians and Ghanaian startups and businesses grow with the use of technology.
Usually, we refer to them as Tech Hubs and in this guide, we are going to briefly look at some of the top 15 Tech Hubs in Ghana, their location, and you can get in touch with them.
What is a Tech Hub?
Before we delve into the top 15 Tech Hubs in Ghana, let’s look at some of the definitions of a tech hub.
A tech hub is a physical space-a city, a suburb, or just suite of offices – which has developed to help technology startup companies succeed – IG Global
A tech hub is a community that promotes innovation for technology-based companies – Seneca One
A tech hub is basically a physical space, whether a city or suite of offices, that fosters innovation for technology startup companies – African Vibes
In all these definitions, we can see that are repetitions of some terms, i.e., innovation, technology, startups, businesses. Simply put, a tech hub is any place where innovation is promoted for companies or startups in the technology space.
List of The Top 15 Tech Hubs in Ghana
In Africa, Ghana is among the second-tier ranked countries when it comes to tech hubs. This is because there are about 25 tech hubs in the country.
Other countries like Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria are ranked Tier 1 since they have over 56, 80, and 85 tech hubs respectively.
In no particular order, below are the top 15 tech hubs in Ghana.
1. Ghana Tech Lab
Ghana Tech Lab is an open collaboration tech space for competent digital skills training, seeding innovations, and growing startups. Ghana Tech Lab is a joint venture between Innohub Ghana and Kumasi Hive under the E-Transform Project of the Ministry of Communications and funded by the World Bank.
All the programs provided by the Ghana Tech Lab focuses on providing a fertile farm for innovative promising startups in Africa, early-stage investments for promising startups in Africa, and the provision of competent digital training that impels the creation of a highly-skilled digital workforce/human capital.
The goal of the Ghana Tech Lab is to become the platform for digital innovations in Africa and beyond. The programs and curriculum are designed to make your idea a product/solution that addresses a situation in society.
Over the years, over 6019 people have been trained across Ghana, 619 jobs created, 78 startups incubated, and 32432 overall applications.
2. Ghana Innovation Hub
The Ghana Innovation Hub is located in Accra and runs a program that aims at improving businesses using technology. In this program, businesses are provided with innovative assistance, working space, business development services, access to investment, business support, events, and training spaces, coworking space, etc.
All they seek to achieve is to help businesses in Ghana with Innovative ways to grow and scale up their businesses. You can visit their website to find out more.
3. MEST
Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is one of the biggest and most popular tech hubs in Ghana. Located in East Legon, Accra, MEST is a tech hub that does not only serves startups and businesses in Ghana but almost across the entire African continent.
Just as the name suggests, MEST takes in students with little or no experience and trains them to become entrepreneurs in the tech ecosystem. Most of the popular Ghanaian tech startup founders passed through MEST where they have received seed funding to kickstart the business.
Apart from the funding, participants are equipped with the skills, mindsets, resources, and experience needed for their various businesses. Some of the companies they were born by MEST include Zuri, Buildpolis, Complete Farmer, BezoMoney, etc.
4. Innohub
Like most of the already mentioned tech hubs, Innohub is also one of the biggest tech hubs in Ghana. Their main motto is “bridging the gap between SMEs and impact investors”.
Innohub provides a program that links small and medium enterprises with the tools, skills, training, and investors they need to grow their businesses. Participants are supported through various aspects like business strategies, capitals, training programs, market research, market entry support, accelerations services, etc.
5. Impact Hub
The Impact Hub is also one of the biggest tech hubs in Ghana that has nurtured some of the biggest startups in Ghana. They provide a program that nurtures innovators and entrepreneurs with the inspiration to grow and build successful businesses in Ghana.
There are coworking spaces, acceleration programs, private offices, boot camps & training sessions, mentorships from experts, and other opportunities for participants to build and grow their businesses with all the experience they need.
6. Kumasi Hive
Kumasi Hive is one of the few tech hubs located outside the capital Accra. It is located at the second biggest commercial town in the country, Kumasi (precisely Kentinkrono), and has trained several founders to build their businesses.
They run a business incubation program that helps businesses with high potential to grow and scale up their operations. People who take part in this program have access to consultations, coworking space, technical assistance, networking opportunities, and many others.
7. Growth Mosaic
Growth Mosaic offers a program for early-stage and high-potential startups by helping them to make a positive impact in the industry they operate in. Growth Mosaic is located in Accra.
There are acceleration services, business strategies, relationship-building opportunities, business modeling and forecasting, investment, and several other opportunities available for participants. For more information, you can visit their website.
8. HOPin Academy
Whenever we talk about tech hubs in Ghana, the main attention is focused on Accra while little attention is given to those in the Northern part of the country. HOPin Academy is a tech hub located in Tamale, Northern Region.
They host a corporative entrepreneurship program that provides support for founders to bring disruptive change in the industry with the help of technology. Participants are provided with incubation and acceleration services together with digital skills, market entry support, finance and capital, and others.
9. iSpace
iSpace is a tech hub located in Accra which provides tech startups and businesses with tailor-made programs. Tech founders are supported to go from the ideation stage through to the incubation stage.
iSpace provides its participants with startup business support, educational resources, tailored business curriculum, access to training and events, access to financial support, etc.
10. Kosmos Innovation Centre
Turning a business idea into a reality is the dream of most people and the Kosmos Innovation Centre is one of the places in Ghana to do that. They offer a business program where prospective entrepreneurs are being invested in for the success of their businesses.
Mentorship, business support, seed funding, training, business talks, networking, connection building, and many other amazing opportunities are available for participants of this program.
11. SFAN
SFAN runs a business program that unlocks the potential of young African entrepreneurs and helps them fulfill their entrepreneurship dreams. Those who participate in this program are provided with several resources and opportunities to bring their dreams into life.
This program also provides the needed education, skills, events, community, and relationship-building opportunities young entrepreneurs need to thrive in their industry.
12. GHATBI
GHATBI is located in Apowa and operates on the motto “we grow generational businesses…”. With this in mind, they have created a holistic program that trains and grows entrepreneurs in Ghana.
According to the information on their website, the mission of GHATBI is to connect industries with agriculture and build & develop organic and healthy quality products for the people of Ghana. You can read more about GHATBI on their official website.
13. Afri Labs
Afri Labs is a tech hub located across Africa that motivates more businesses to create tech hubs in the continent. They offer a program that supports founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators with business data, consultation, job-creation opportunities, legal & financial business support, mentorship & guidance, etc.
14. GNBCC
The Ghana Netherlands Business and Cultural Council (GNBCC) organizes a program in collaboration with the Netherlands African Business Council. The GNBCC tech hub is located in the capital of Ghana, Accra.
Businesses who are part of this program are impacted by the joint combination of these two (2) institutions in the field of business development, access to events, travel support, networking opportunities, resources, etc.
15. Engine Business Network
The last tech hub on the list is the Engine Business Network. They have a program to help small and medium-size business enterprises by empowering young and women entrepreneurs.
The mission of the program is to build transformational entrepreneurs who have the potential to develop sustainable economic development in Africa.
Conclusion
Africa is seen as one of the continents with the least advancements in technology, but gradually the continent is growing. With some of the tech hub’s main aim to grow the creation of businesses in the tech space, the continent has a promising future.
This article has outlined some of the top tech hubs in Ghana, there are several others that we couldn’t cover in this guide but they are all doing an amazing job as well.
