Hillary Sarah Andoh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HSA PR, says Ghana’s fashion industry needs greater investment, affordable finance and stronger business structures if it is to grow and compete internationally.
Speaking at the Black Star Fashion Week 2026 Summit, monitored by entertainment journalist Joseph Owusu Worae, Andoh said creative talent alone could not deliver a sustainable fashion sector. She called for businesses to be properly organised and adequately supported so they could become commercially viable over the long term.
Andoh, the Project Lead for the Business of Ghanaian Fashion (BoGF), made the comments during a presentation titled The Business of Fashion: An Ecosystem, an Economic Opportunity.
She said her organisation had spent the past 13 years providing pro bono workshops and seminars on brand positioning, storytelling and business development. Its work with designers and fashion brands had repeatedly identified limited access to finance, high borrowing costs and insufficient manufacturing support as major obstacles.
Those findings informed the State of the Ghanaian Fashion Industry Report and later helped lead to the development of Fashion Next is Ghana.
“People were talking about financing, manufacturing and business support,” she said, arguing that the challenges required a coordinated response.
Andoh urged Ghana to attract more private-sector investment, patient capital and venture capital into fashion, which she described as an important contributor to the economy.
“We keep talking about oil and gas. It’s all well and good, but a greater percentage of the people in the industry, SMEs, women, youth, and they are creating jobs,” she said.
She added that financial support needed to reflect the different stages of development of fashion businesses.
“We need capital. And we need capital not just from Ghana or from the government. We need private sector capital. We need patient capital. We need venture capital,” she said.
Formal businesses and manufacturing capacity
Andoh also encouraged fashion entrepreneurs to keep accurate financial records, introduce clear pricing systems and secure the necessary registration and tax documents.
She said banks and investors needed to see evidence of how a business operated and whether it had the capacity to use financial backing effectively.
“If you want us to find money for you, one of the things they’re saying is they want to see your paperwork, they want to see your certification, they want to see your tax clearance,” she said.
Manufacturing capacity was another concern. Andoh said some small and medium-sized businesses could produce several hundred items but lacked the ability to complete much larger orders within short deadlines.
A designer able to make 500 pieces, for example, might not be capable of delivering 2,000 within 30 days. She called for stronger links between brands, designers and manufacturers to help address that gap.
Andoh further warned designers not to prioritise international exposure before confirming that their products met the required standards and that orders could be fulfilled.
“It’s nice to go out there, but what we want to focus on is, let’s build on the systems and on the foundations to make the industry what we want it to be and for it to be taken seriously,” she said.
She called for closer cooperation between designers, manufacturers, textile producers, fashion schools, business institutions, policymakers, development finance institutions and the media.
Ghana, she said, needed the systems and foundations to convert its fashion potential into sustainable businesses, jobs and wider economic opportunities.
