The Embassy of Switzerland in Ghana has joined the launch of the Ghana Private Sector Competitiveness Programme II (GPSCP II), an incubation programme supporting 30 women entrepreneurs and start-ups in the cashew sector with access to finance, markets and mentorship.
The programme, supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) at Ashesi University, is designed to help women-led businesses move beyond cashew trading into higher-value processing, packaging and business growth.
The incubation programme targets women involved in small-scale cashew processing, women-led cooperatives and home-based processing businesses, as well as women-owned enterprises that have been operating for between one and six years in the cashew-processing value chain.
Participants will receive mentorship from industry experts, access to finance, market connections and buyer linkages to strengthen their businesses and improve their participation in the cashew value chain.
The initiative builds on Switzerland’s longstanding support for Ghana’s agricultural and agribusiness sectors. Through SECO, Switzerland has supported programmes aimed at improving productivity, profitability and incomes in Ghana’s cashew and oil-palm value chains, with particular emphasis on smallholder farmers, SMEs, gender equality and youth participation.
Switzerland has also supported Ghana’s cashew sector through capacity building, sector regulation and efforts to improve local processing.
In 2020, the Swiss Embassy together with partners including GIZ and the Competitive Cashew Initiative, had extensively supported capacity building for industry actors and contributed to strengthening cashew-sector regulation and local processing.
More recently, Swisscontact launched the Women in Pineapple Production initiative in Ghana in March 2026, supporting women farmers with technical training, inputs, mentorship and market access. The initiative forms part of broader efforts to strengthen women’s participation in Ghana’s agricultural value chains.
The Deputy Head of Mission and Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy in Ghana, Jannies Walz, led the Embassy’s participation in the launch.
The GPSCP II initiative forms part of a broader Swiss-Ghana partnership around inclusive private-sector development, agricultural value addition and stronger participation of women in productive sectors.
Related Posts
