The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, has urged investors and the business community to make use of research in order to make informed decisions.

He said research-based decisions will help to cut down on the cost of doing business and boost the competitiveness of businesses.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey said this at the launch of the first Ghana Business Development Review (GBDR), published by the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).

The GBDR is a research-based biennial report on business development in Ghana, which is especially seen as a milestone for growing businesses at the micro-level.

The maiden edition of the report covers a wide range of business sectors. It discusses recent development, performance, managerial and governance issues, major constriants and also provides an outlook for the respective sectors.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey, who launched the book, noted that over the past two decades there has been a major improvement in data collection analysis - which gives more understanding to decisions made by the public and private sectors.

He stated that for potential investors coming to the country, they won’t have to hire consultants to conduct visibility studies since the GBDR is a comprehensive report that will guide them to have a broad knowledge of the environment they want to invest in.

“This will be a useful addition to the ones that has been done for the past 20 years. Investors will have a lot to choose from, and this is more insightful.

“In the past getting information about the economy was very difficult, and even when available it was not properly researched. It is not until recent times that things have changed,” he said.

Prof. Aryeetey, who will be retiring in about six weeks’ time as head of the country’s premier university, expressed how the UGBS has over the years moved from the shadows and become the university’s centre-piece.

“The UGBS is no longer like it used to be when it was a small self-centred organisation. This report will help build a bridge between the university and its external publics,” he noted.

The Dean of the University of Ghana Business School, Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor, in his address stated how the report is important for the business sector, saying: “The Ghana Business Development Review also intends to identify major challenges confronting the development of businesses and strengthen industry engagement in the country”.

He applauded Professor Felix Asante, Director for Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER); Professor Peter Quartey, Head of Economic Department; and reviewers of the report for suggestions they provided at the conceptualisation stage.

The maiden edition of the GBDR covers a wide range of business sectors. Each category of business groupings constitutes a chapter.

Chapter One (1) sets the stage for the entire report by presenting an overview of the Ghanaian economy and prevailing business environment. This chapter provides the general macroeconomic and business context within which all the businesses covered in this report operate. It covers the macroeconomic performance of the global and domestic economies over the past five years, and the associated opportunities, challenges and risk factors. It futher highlights the business environment’s trajectory over the past five years to give the business community a fair idea of recent changes in the business landscape.

Chapter Two-Five (2-5) focus on the real sectors of the economy, covering manufacturing, agribusiness, mining, and real estate. With electricity and power becoming topical in the current socio-politico-economic discourse, the energy, and oil and gas sectors are discussed in Chapter Six (6) and Seven (7) respectively.

The financial sector is pivotal to the growth of the businesses and to the economic transformation agenda of Ghana. Thus, Chapters Eight-Ten (8-10) are devoted to the financial services including banking, insurance and pensions. For each of these sub-sectors, the report highlights sector profiles and key trends, the legal and regulatory environment and, finally, challenges and prospects.

Technological advancement is clearly defining new possibilities for businesses. IT and telecommunications are key drivers for innovation and innovation diffusion.

For this reason, Chapters Eleven and Twelve (11 and 12) respectively examine the advertising sector and IT and telecommunications sectors. Ghana’s health sector has great promise, and is potentially an avenue for creating the next generation of business to promote economic growth.

Thus, the report in Chapter Thirteen (13) discusses health and pharmaceutical sector businesses. The hospitality and tourism sector is discussed in Chapter Fourteen (14), while the accounting services sector is discussed in Chapter Fifteen (15).