Ghana pipeline builder – A boost for SDG-focused SME investments

The chances of Ghana meeting all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 remains low due to the huge SDG financial gap that currently exists.  Luckily, the Ghana Pipeline Builder is proving essential in identifying and channeling investment to SDG-Focused SMEs in the country. 

According to the UNDP, its SDG Investor Maps intelligence tool, Pipeline Builder, has so far identified a base value of USD 39 million worth of SME investments in Ghana in the six months to September 2021 under its pilot scheme, with the potential for an additional USD 15.5 million.

Pipeline Builder is an intermediary that streamlines the investment ‘origination’ or sourcing and distribution process to drive more capital to SDG-focused SMEs in emerging markets.

Initiated in late 2019, Pipeline Builder is a partnership between the SDG Lab at UN Geneva and the Ground_Up Project, a Swiss-based impact finance advisor, with initial financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Support from UNDP

The UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana, Dr Angela Lusigi pledged UNDP’s continued commitment and support towards making Ghana an investment destination of choice, and to support the SDG Investor Maps as a vehicle for strategic development investment.

“We know that the task to bridge Ghana’s current SDG financing gap of approximately USD 43 billion a year is daunting, but we remain resolute in our quest to support the mobilization of innovative financing for the implementation of the SDGs” she said.

The Ghana SDG Investor Map, which was finalized in the last quarter of 2020, enabled Pipeline Builder to source 15 potential investments across seven sectors that meet the West African nation’s SDG priorities.

The sectors identified by the Ghana SDG Investor Map, against which Pipeline Builder subsequently developed relevant projects, are health, housing, ITC, agriculture, cities, education and financial services with the investment size ranging from USD 0.5 to 7 million, the UNDP disclosed.

The aim of the SDG Investor Maps is to help private investors (funds, financiers, corporations) identify investment opportunities and business models that have significant potential to advance the SDGs. They provide investors with actionable data and insights to enable them to use their capital for good, while making a financial profit.

SDGs Financing

The 2020 SDGs Budget Report shows that Ghana is making strides towards meeting some of the Global Goals but huge gaps exist in major goals such as Goal 1, No Poverty, which seeks to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030.

With 45.6 % of Ghana’s population been multi-dimensionally poor and 64.6% of the rural areas more likely to be multi-dimensionally poorer than their urban counterparts of 27%, as per the 2020 Multidimensional Poverty Index, the chances of meeting Goal 1 in 9 years remains doubtful.

Despite the government’s efforts, budget allocation towards the fight against poverty remains low. In 2020, the total budget amount allocated to Goal 1 for the delivery of programs at the national and district levels was GH¢ 1.5 billion.

Just like SDG 1, budget allocations for Goal 2 also remained low, despite been increased significantly from a sum of GH¢346.1 million in 2019 to GH¢ 997 million in 2020.

The Ministry of Finance disclosed that Total spending on the SDGs by Government through MDAs was to GH¢35,774,648,335 in 2020, up from GH¢31,448,312,790 in 2019. This means Ghana needs to step up its efforts in raising funds to meet the SDGs, as the yearly expenditure levels at present, is nowhere near the USD 43 billion yearly gap, as indicated by the UNDP.