General

Every few years, a new administration in Ghana rolls out an agricultural masterplan with its own slogans, logos, and targets. We’ve had “Operation Feed Yourself,” “Youth in Agriculture,” “Planting for Food and Jobs,” and more. Each one comes with speeches, fanfare, and pilot sites. Yet when the dust settles, many farmers still wait for subsidised inputs, extension officers remain overstretched, and warehouses rust beneath the sun. The truth? It’s not always about money or technical know-how. Often, it’s because every new government resets the chessboard. Continuity is the rarest crop in Ghanaian agriculture. We plan with excitement but abandon with silence. As a result, the agricultural sector ends up more cluttered with defunct policies than with crops in the ground. How political cycles derail agri strategy Political discontinuity is a side effect of democracy. I recently had a conversation where I told those present that whatever comes with democracy, we must not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We must protect our right to vote, our right to peace, and our belief in a functioning constitution, warts and all. Political discontinuity represents a structural flaw within the remarkable phenomenon we call democracy, where the majority of Ghanaians wish for one leader today and another leader tomorrow, as is our right. Nevertheless, Ghana’s development planning is excessively linked to electoral cycles. A new government enters, and suddenly, ongoing programmes are either renamed, repackaged, or quietly defunded. Extension officers are redirected. Donor partners become hesitant. Institutional memory is lost. Consider this: food distribution centres and grain silos have been built across the country, some since the 1980s. Yet many lie unused or repurposed. Not because they were poor ideas, but because follow-through was lost once the team that built them left office. In some cases, entire ministries shift focus midstream. Even worse, new appointees often lack access to the records and systems used by their predecessors. The digital continuity we need for monitoring, evaluation, and even simple procurement is suddenly absent. This issue often has nothing to do with the new administration’s operational capacities and expertise; as I mentioned earlier, it’s not always about money or technical know-how. In fact, more often than not, it’s a ticking timebomb left under the table for the new administrations to endure. After a couple of cycles, it then becomes the norm, a form of systemic amnesia that is triggered with every new swearing-in. The result is a sector trapped in rinse-and-repeat mode. Ambitious plans are launched, results are promised, and then silence follows. The toll on farmers and food systems For farmers, this means chronic unpredictability. One season, fertiliser subsidies are available; the next, they’re missing or delayed. Prices crash because of unregulated imports, then rebound wildly due to inadequate storage or transport. I adore watermelon smoothies. One day it’s ten cedis per melon; the next few weeks it’s thirty to forty cedis. I can never tell. Even my gɔbɛ is suffering because ripe plantain is in short supply now, and when I manage to get some, sheesh! Unionised farmer groups, originally intended to coordinate production and negotiate pricing power, have nearly disappeared in many regions or are no longer as effective. Without these structures, aggregation is weaker, market access is more challenging, and rural producers find themselves facing urban traders alone. Meanwhile, young people trained under previous agricultural initiatives graduate without a support system to assist them in accessing land, finance, or markets. As a result, momentum dissipates. Why? Well, “you belonged to that party, so…” Harsh, but true. Abeg, don’t punish me for expressing myself freely. I miss writing freely. I’m merely venting here about a gap in the system within a sector where I work; that’s all this is. Alright, moving on. Women farmers face even greater challenges. Despite being the backbone of Ghana’s rural labour force, they have limited access to land, extension services, and credit. When programmes fail, the fallout is often harsher for them, undermining both gender equity and food production. Food systems rely on consistency. Seeds, fertiliser, training, financing, harvesting, and transport must adhere to a predictable rhythm. When that rhythm is disrupted by political interference or insufficient funding, the entire cycle is adversely affected. It’s not a lack of ideas. It’s a lack of memory. Ghana is not lacking in vision. From the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), many of these concepts are sound. The failure lies in execution and our inability to create apolitical institutions with lasting mandates. Other countries have learned this lesson. For instance, Rwanda shields its agricultural policy from political meddling by anchoring it in multi-year development compacts that endure beyond elections. Kenya’s devolution process has localised agri-financing, granting counties greater control while maintaining national coordination. Execution is never perfect but it’s a pretty solid example. I checked. Ghana, by contrast, tends to centralise plans but decentralise responsibility, a mix that makes accountability elusive. Everyone is in charge, so no one is. This is a broad statement yet largely accurate. Allow me to provide an example. Most national development strategies in Ghana, whether PFJ, One District One Factory (1D1F), or even parts of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), are designed and coordinated from Accra. Ministries hold the purse strings and steer the big picture. BUT, Implementation often falls to district assemblies, regional directorates, or local-level agents who don’t have full autonomy, reliable funding, or a say in the initial design. So when results are poor, there’s a finger-pointing loop between the centre and the ground. Three things that must change Institutional Independence: We need an autonomous Ghana Agricultural Development Authority (GADA) (or Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA)) with a protected budget, long-term strategy, and legal insulation from electoral whims. Similar to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), but focused on food systems. GADA or GIDA could be mandated to coordinate all agri-related initiatives, track data, ensure accountability, and serve as the institutional bridge across administrations. Data Infrastructure: A national digital agri hub that

You can learn a lot about people by analysing, for instance, how they eat. Not just what they choose, but when they order, how much they spend, and how often they return. Recently, during my postgraduate studies in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin, I had the chance to study a real-world dataset from a food delivery platform in New York. The numbers didn’t shout. But they told a quiet, powerful story. It was an assignment designed to build foundational data analysis skills. However, as I worked through it, I kept thinking about ‘Order and Eat’, my own mobile food business here in Ghana. Although it is FDA-registered, I shut it down temporarily, until I could either run it better or find someone who could manage it more effectively.  In this assignment, I observed behaviours that felt familiar. I noticed customers who weren’t so different from ours. And I realised that what began as a case study was in fact a window into how we might operate better food businesses at home in Ghana. The Weekend Effect One pattern stood out immediately. Nearly three-quarters of all orders were placed on weekends. People were opting for American, Japanese, and Italian dishes. These weren’t quick weekday bites; they were meals that people sat down to enjoy, often shared and indulgent. This suggests that food delivery thrives most when people feel unhurried. They aren’t chasing deadlines or battling traffic. They’re unwinding. This has shaped how I think about scheduling for Order and Eat. Fridays through Sundays are no longer just part of the week. They are a rhythm. We have to plan our menu around them, preparing higher-demand ingredients in advance and using WhatsApp to send out quiet nudges to regulars. The numbers made it clear. Your best sales often happen when your customers are at their most relaxed. Who’s Spending More Than You Think Another detail stood out. Almost a third of the orders within the dataset in this assignment crossed the twenty-dollar mark. These weren’t one-off splurges. They were part of a steady flow of higher-value transactions. That matters. Too often we assume that most customers are watching every cedi. And while many are, some are not. Some are prioritising convenience, quality, or the joy of a particular meal. In Ghana, this segment exists, even if it doesn’t always advertise itself. I’ve seen it with Order and Eat. There are customers who consistently choose the more premium options, who never ask about delivery charges, and who quietly place repeat orders. When this happens, we have to start testing small add-ons just for them. A surprise dessert. A reusable food pack. These are simple things, but they build loyalty in quiet ways. If you run a small business, it is worth asking yourself who your highest-spending customers are and what kind of experience they are having. Are you treating them like everyone else, or are you giving them a reason to keep coming back? Speed Isn’t Everything There’s a widespread belief that faster delivery always means happier customers. But the data I worked on challenged that. Orders that were delivered quickly didn’t always earn better ratings. And the difference between five-star and three-star reviews had little to do with how fast the food showed up. That was a reminder. Satisfaction is about more than speed. It is about whether the food arrived in good condition, whether it tasted fresh, and whether the packaging felt intentional. For many of us in Ghana, where delivery times can be affected by factors outside our control, this is actually good news. We can’t always deliver faster. But we can deliver better. So, we have to start focusing more on consistency. Double-check packaging before dispatch, make follow-up calls on first-time orders, and even include small notes when we have the time. The goal is to shape the full experience, not just beat the clock. Loyalty is Quiet Until You Listen According to the data, one customer placed thirteen orders, while four others placed between eight and ten. These were not corporate bulk orders, but rather individual customers using the platform repeatedly. Yet, there was no mention of loyalty rewards or special offers for them in this assignment. This is a lesson many of us overlook. Not all loyal customers are loud. Some don’t leave reviews. Some don’t tag you on social media. But they come back. Again and again. If you’re not tracking their behaviour, you may never realise just how important they are. So start tracking basic customer behaviours. Nothing fancy. Just a spreadsheet with names, order frequency, and preferences. It will help us know who to thank, who to offer a new dish to first, and who to message when something goes wrong. Loyalty is built in moments, not marketing campaigns. Only a Few Vendors Stand Out Out of nearly 180 restaurants in the dataset, only four met the platform’s criteria for promotion: at least fifty ratings and an average score above four. That was startling. It showed how rare consistent quality and customer engagement really are. In Ghana, where digital food marketplaces are growing, the same problem exists. A lot of vendors get listed, but few are truly dependable. Many shine for a week and fade the next. The food platforms promote whoever brings in volume for them, not necessarily whoever delivers consistent quality to the customers. There’s an opportunity here. If you’re a vendor and you can maintain high standards, gather regular feedback, and respond quickly to issues, you can rise above the noise. And if you’re running a platform, it’s worth thinking about how your algorithm promotes vendors. Are you rewarding consistency and satisfaction, or just sales spikes? The Small Percentage That Can Ruin Your Brand Just over 10% of orders in the case study took more than an hour to deliver. This is not a majority. Not even close! But they still matter. These are the orders that frustrate people.

The University of Ghana (UG) has formed a strategic partnership with Maxwell Investments Group (MIG) and the Africa School of Entrepreneurship (ASOE) to enhance leadership development among Ghanaian students. Through a formal Memorandum of Understanding signed on Tuesday the 3rd of June 2025, the partners committed to providing practical, values-based entrepreneurship education both within and beyond the classroom. Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Justice Bawole, Dean of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), highlighted the necessity for graduates to go beyond academic knowledge and embrace practical leadership capabilities. “The partnership aims to develop skills that extend beyond traditional academia. They must leave here ready to think critically, act ethically, and lead courageously,” said Professor Bawole. “We want to ensure our students graduate with academic knowledge and the readiness to lead in business and in society.” The Africa School of Entrepreneurship (ASOE) will act as the implementing arm of the initiative, providing immersive learning experiences such as mentorship programmes, leadership workshops, and entrepreneurial labs. These offerings are designed to assist students, regardless of their faculty, in understanding real-world challenges, building business resilience, and navigating opportunities in an increasingly complex economic environment. Dr Maxwell Ampong, CEO of Maxwell Investments Group, described the initiative as a “long-term investment in human capital that aligns with MIG’s ecosystem approach to sectoral development. We’re here to guide, invest in, and build up future changemakers. Just like a tech platform, other industry partners can very easily plug in and we are happy to have the full support of the University” he stated. Representatives from the University of Ghana at the event included the incumbent and incoming Deans of the University of Ghana Business School, Heads of Departments, Assistant Registrars, Professors, Administrative Leaders, and the present and incoming Presidents of the UGBS Business House Junior Common Room (BHJCR). Industry stakeholders involved in the MIG Ecosystem also pledged their support at the event, with some already participating in internship, mentorship and skills transfer projects. Present at the event were UN Global Compact Network Ghana, Zenith Bank (Ghana) Ltd., Deloitte Ghana, the Women in Agricultural Development Directorate (WIAD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), AfCFTA Young Entrepreneurs Federation, Legal Emporium Ghana, Metropolitan Insurance Ghana Ltd., Pan-African Savings and Loans Ghana, Wilmar Ghana Limited, Koranteng & Koranteng Legal Advisors, African Brand Warrior, Finfact Global, Tradeline Consult, and others. This initiative is set to become a model for how academia and enterprise can jointly develop youth leadership for measurable national transformation.