Countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines have built massive service-center industries—business process outsourcing (BPO), call centers, remote support—that serve companies across the globe and employ millions. Many workers in those countries operate in English even when it's not their first language, and accents can be strong.
In Ghana, especially in cities like Accra and Kumasi, English is widely spoken. In many cases, people default to English over local dialects in everyday communication. Yet Ghana has not positioned itself as a global service hub, and the question gnawing at Ghanaian professionals is: why not?
"We have the language skills. We have the education. But we're watching Nigeria and South Africa take the outsourcing contracts while we sit on the sidelines," says Kwame Mensah, a software developer and business consultant in Accra. "The Philippines built an entire economy around this. We could do the same."
The Philippines generated $29 billion from its BPO sector in 2023, employing over a million workers. India's outsourcing industry is worth over $245 billion. These aren't small numbers. They represent national transformation—middle-class job creation, foreign currency inflows, infrastructure investment, and skills development at scale.
Ghana, by contrast, has no dedicated service industry district. No concentrated effort to attract global companies. No national strategy to position the country as West Africa's outsourcing capital.
"It's a policy failure," argues Dr. Abena Osei, an economist at the . "The government could designate a specific zone—say, a district in or —as a business and outsourcing center. Offer tax incentives for foreign companies. Encourage private investors to build offices, apartments, commercial spaces. You don't need the state to build everything. You need the state to create the conditions for private investment."
