Ghanaian entrepreneurs should focus on solving specific local problems and build businesses around their competitive advantages instead of attempting to compete directly with established global companies, the Country Director of Zipline Ghana, Mr Daniel Kwaku Merki, has said.
He said a strategy of starting small, developing solutions tailored to local conditions and expanding gradually could help Ghanaian startups build resilient businesses capable of withstanding competition from international firms.
Speaking at the JoyNews Digital Economy Forum on AI and the Ghana Economy on Wednesday, October 21, Mr Merki said local businesses needed to identify what distinguished them from their competitors and use that advantage as the foundation for growth.
Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur and early-stage investor, he cautioned against trying to compete immediately at a scale that favoured larger, better-resourced companies.
“If you go too high up, what happens is you will fail,” he said, adding that businesses needed to identify a narrow problem they could solve better than others before expanding their operations.
“You cannot just jump and go and compete with somebody who has all the advantages. You have to find your source of differentiation, go small and solve something very narrowly and then scale up,” he said.
Local knowledge as a competitive advantage
Mr Merki said Ghanaian businesses could draw strength from their understanding of local markets, including the informal systems and practices that foreign companies might struggle to replicate.
He cited a logistics and fulfilment company in Ghana in which he had invested, saying its ability to integrate technology with the realities of the local market could give it an advantage over a global competitor such as Amazon if the latter entered the market.
“What happens to that company when Amazon wants to enter the market, if they do it the right way, Amazon cannot compete in this market because there are certain things that work even in the informal sector that you have to leverage the technology, integrate and make that the core,” he said.
His comments point to the need for Ghanaian technology businesses to develop solutions that respond to local conditions rather than simply imitate business models that have succeeded elsewhere.
For startups seeking to use artificial intelligence (AI), that could mean identifying specific challenges in areas such as logistics, commerce and service delivery, then applying technology in ways that improve existing systems and meet the needs of local customers.
Government’s role
While emphasising the importance of entrepreneurship and private-sector innovation, Mr Merki said government also had a responsibility to establish the conditions needed for businesses to grow.
He welcomed the emphasis on a long-term national strategy for the digital economy, saying entrepreneurs needed to see ambition and a clear direction in the country’s plans.
“What matters to me is that I see that there is a strategy that is 10 years out, that there is ambition,” he said.
Mr Merki referred to a target in the strategy for Ghana to produce 10 unicorns by 2035, adding that he believed the country could achieve an even higher number.
A unicorn is a privately held startup valued at US$1 billion or more. Reaching that milestone typically requires businesses to develop scalable products, attract investment and demonstrate strong growth potential.
Mr Merki’s remarks underscore the importance of combining a clear national vision with practical support for entrepreneurs, particularly those developing technology-driven solutions for Ghanaian markets.
He said the government’s role was distinct from that of private businesses, but the development of a competitive digital economy required a collective effort.