Ghana: Development Bank Ghana launches ‘DBG Connect’

With the objective of advancing Ghana’s economic growth and development, the Development Bank Ghana (DBG) has launched a podcast platform named DBG Connect. This initiative is designed to gather diverse perspectives and insights, aiming to expedite the country’s journey towards inclusive and sustainable economic transformation.

DBG Connect serves as a digital platform fostering insightful discussions by engaging industry leaders, experts, and key stakeholders.

The DBG Connect platform, an initiative of DBG, is created out of the necessity to continue the conversations that will generate the needed ideas to augment ongoing efforts directed towards the financial transformation of businesses in Ghana. Entrusted with the mandate of fostering strong partnerships to finance economic growth, creating jobs and building capacity for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), DBG has focused on taking advantage of all opportunities which will lead to the fulfilment of this mandate. As a result, DBG Connect is one such vehicle which is positioned to be a place where ideas converge, where knowledge is shared and where solutions will be discussed and fashioned. The programme therefore brings together stakeholders and leaders in the business industry.

DBG Connect is designed with a structured format that involves a host moderating discussions with panelists in-depth. This feature will be a consistent element across all episodes in the series. The focus of these discussions will revolve around key topics and themes such as challenges and opportunities in agriculture, the strategic use of technology to support industry, policy advocacy and agricultural financing, fostering a competitive private sector, and facilitating value-chain financing and support. These discussions, produced in video format, will be accessible on the Bank’s YouTube channel. Additionally, the content will be made available as a podcast on various online streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.

Touching on the relevance of the initiative, K. Duker, Chief Executive Officer of DBG mentioned that the issues and challenges faced by businesses especially SMEs such as lack of access to capital, regulatory bottlenecks, little or no capacity building, and a host of others all contribute to the multifaceted nature of these challenges, and unfortunately there is no one person with the answer to all the problems. He therefore called for collaboration from all captains of industry and leaders of institutions to have such conversations which will keep ideas flowing and lead to their successful implementation.

“There is a complex problem out there and there is no one messiah, but the fact that we are beginning to have these discussions is so important because all these issues can be resolved by people collaborating. I urge all who are interested in this country’s economic transformation to watch each episode and offer suggestions on the issues and solutions. Links will be provided on our social media channels in order to make it easy to access DBG Connect and also to provide feedback.” he said.

DBG Connect’s first episode will concentrate on addressing the challenges and opportunities within the agricultural sector. Anticipated before the conclusion of 2023 are two additional episodes, each dedicated to examining bottlenecks and proposing potential solutions crucial to Ghana’s ongoing efforts towards economic transformation.

Development Bank Ghana is a wholesale financial institution established by the Government of Ghana. DBG acts as a provider of long-term capital to the market with a mission to foster strong partnerships to finance economic growth, create jobs, and build capacity for SMEs. The organization is committed, aligned and strengthened to achieve UN Sustainable Goals (SDGs) ambitions and targets while implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy aimed at creating shared value and impact with purpose.