Create industries around startups – Venture capitalist calls for focus on industrial champions

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, Amma Gyampo, has called for a shift in focus towards building stronger industrial champions, arguing that economies can achieve greater impact by creating industries around successful startups rather than spreading support too widely across fragmented entrepreneurship.

Speaking during a discussion on business and investment readiness on JoyFM on May 26, she observed that while standards in the marketplace appear to be improving and consumers now have access to a wider variety of goods, many products remain strikingly similar in appearance and packaging.

“I think we can do better,” she noted, adding that a significant number of goods on the market “look the same,” often differing only in branding or labels despite appearing to originate from similar production lines. She suggested that in many cases, products share identical container formats and designs, contributing to a lack of meaningful differentiation.

This growing uniformity, she implied, raises critical questions about how businesses can stand out in increasingly competitive markets.

Differentiation versus cost pressures

According to her remarks, the core challenge for businesses lies in balancing two competing priorities: effective marketing and cost control. While marketing is fundamentally about standing out, she stressed that business sustainability depends equally on managing costs efficiently—both of which are difficult to achieve simultaneously.

She also reflected on the broader entrepreneurial landscape, suggesting that entrepreneurship has increasingly become a default pathway due to limited formal employment opportunities in many economies.

In her view, this has contributed to a proliferation of small businesses, but not necessarily to stronger industrial development.

Call to back successful businesses and build industries

Rather than spreading support too thinly across a wide range of start-ups, she advocated for a more focused strategy that identifies and champions the businesses already performing well.

“We should champion them, work with them, and create industries around them,” she suggested, arguing that strong firms can serve as anchors for wider value chains. These, she explained, would help develop ecosystems involving suppliers, logistics providers, and service firms, ultimately creating opportunities for workers to upskill and progress into higher roles.

She emphasised that this approach could help shift economies from fragmented entrepreneurship towards structured industrial development capable of generating sustainable employment.

Investor perspective and sector disruption

From an investment standpoint, she noted that investors typically assess which players are performing well within a sector while also identifying underperforming incumbents and inefficiencies that may present opportunities for disruption.

The discussion highlighted the importance of understanding sector dynamics—particularly which firms are lagging behind and where new entrants can introduce more efficient or innovative solutions.

Fintech as a model for practical innovation

As an example, she referenced the growth of financial technology, noting how digital payment platforms and financial inclusion tools have transformed transactions over the past 10 to 20 years.

These services, she said, did not exist at scale two decades ago but have since become essential in simplifying payments and improving access to financial services. Their success, she suggested, lies in their ability to solve real-life problems and make everyday economic activity more efficient.

Conclusion

By focusing on proven performers and building ecosystems around them, she argued, economies can strengthen value chains, improve product differentiation, and create more sustainable employment pathways—while also fostering innovation that responds directly to real market needs.

المصدر: MyJoyOnline (GH)