The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is positioning Ghana’s diaspora community as a key source of long-term investment capital, unveiling plans to create regulated channels that will allow Ghanaians abroad to invest directly in national development projects and the domestic capital market.
The initiative seeks to convert part of the country’s growing remittance inflows into sustainable investment financing for businesses, infrastructure, and economic expansion.
Deputy Director-General in charge of Finance at the SEC, Mensah Thompson, said engagements with Ghanaian communities in the United Kingdom and the United States revealed a strong appetite among diaspora citizens to invest in Ghana, provided transparent and credible investment mechanisms are available.
According to him, many Ghanaians living abroad are eager to contribute to national development but often lack access to trusted platforms through which they can channel their funds.
Mr Thompson recounted discussions with Ghana’s ambassadors in the UK and the US, which highlighted growing interest among diaspora groups seeking opportunities to support large-scale development initiatives in Ghana.
He disclosed that one such group expressed readiness to mobilise significant capital for infrastructure projects, provided the government identifies commercially viable ventures with clear revenue streams and defined repayment structures.
The development has reinforced the SEC’s belief that Ghana is sitting on a largely untapped pool of investment capital within its global diaspora community.
“There’s a lot of interest in the diaspora to invest back home, but they simply do not have the means and channels to do so,” Mr Thompson noted.
To address the challenge, the SEC is collaborating with broker-dealers and other market intermediaries to design investment products and frameworks capable of attracting diaspora funds into regulated sectors of the economy.
The strategy aligns with broader national efforts to leverage remittances as a development tool. Ghana continues to record substantial inflows from citizens abroad, with remittances remaining one of the country’s most important sources of foreign exchange.
Mr Thompson indicated that even a modest shift of remittance inflows into investment instruments could significantly deepen Ghana’s capital market and provide additional funding for economic development.
He stressed that the commission’s objective is to establish secure and accessible investment pathways that will enable diaspora investors to participate in Ghana’s growth while strengthening confidence in the country’s financial markets.
The SEC believes that unlocking diaspora capital could create a new financing avenue for infrastructure development, business expansion, and long-term economic transformation, while giving Ghanaians abroad a direct stake in the country’s future.
