By Patience Tawiah, GNA
Accra (GA/R), Nov. 14, GNA – Ghana has adopted its first National Standard for Business Development Services (BDS) to improve the quality of business support for agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (Agri-SMEs), farmer organisations and other businesses.
The standard was unanimously validated at the National BDS Standards Validation Conference held at the Water Research Institute in Accra, following a chapter-by-chapter review by stakeholders.
The initiative is expected to establish a framework for certifying business development service providers and practitioners, enabling businesses, financial institutions, government agencies and development partners to identify and engage credible service providers.
The conference was organised by the Ghana Network of the Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance (AMEA Ghana), through its Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) Secretariat, in partnership with the Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana.
The adoption follows more than two years of drafting, consultations and technical reviews, which began in June 2024.
A Technical Working Group on Standards and Certification was subsequently established in February 2026 to refine the document, drawing on experiences from three other countries.
Five business development service providers also participated in the pre-testing of the standard.
The 18-chapter document, supported by 12 annexes, outlines key requirements for quality business development services, including governance, service delivery, quality management, financial sustainability, gender equity, social inclusion, monitoring and evaluation, digital transformation and professional ethics.
It also provides practical tools, including compliance checklists, an MSME diagnostic framework, an impact tracker and institutional maturity levels to guide service providers.
Participants at the conference described the standard as relevant to Ghana’s business development services market, practical for implementation at the district level and credible enough to meet the expectations of financial institutions and development partners.
They said the initiative was also expected to address challenges facing agricultural businesses in accessing finance.
Although agriculture contributes approximately 21 per cent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the sector receives only about three to five per cent of bank credit, highlighting the need for stronger business support systems to improve the financial readiness of agricultural enterprises.
A parallel Technical Working Group on Access to Finance is, therefore, preparing a policy brief for the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry (MoTAI) to explore linkages between certified business development service providers and access to credit.
Stakeholders also adopted a three-year implementation roadmap covering 2027 to 2029.
The roadmap includes endorsement by the Multi-Stakeholder Platform and the Ministry, the establishment of an institutional home and certification committee, training of assessors, pilot certification and the creation of a public register of certified providers in 2027.
A nationwide rollout is expected in 2028, with the certification scheme projected to become self-sustaining by 2029.
Stakeholders called on the Multi-Stakeholder Platform to put the necessary systems in place to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted certification process, while pledging their support for the nationwide adoption of the standard by business development service providers and practitioners.
Mr John Kennedy Apegyah, Network Facilitator of AMEA Ghana, said the adoption marked an important milestone for the country’s business development services sector.
He said the next step was to operationalise the standard to ensure that agricultural SMEs received reliable business support services and financial institutions had confidence in the quality of services provided.
The initiative is expected to strengthen Ghana’s business development ecosystem and position the country as a hub for quality business development services in West Africa.
GNA
Edited by: Maxwell Awumah/Audrey Dekalu