A Home for Culture Vultures

During these past four days in Accra, we have often been asked what we make of Ghana – the culture, people, food, etc.

It’s been an exciting and eye opening 4 days. Interestingly, one of the most surprising factors have been the traffic jams during rush hour and the extent to which these influence timeliness – we have experienced this ourselves on most days, so to avoid unnecessary frustrations, I have had to surrender to the traffic and simply go with the flow (and try not to inhale too many fumes!).

All week, in Ghana, we have reached out to a broad spectrum of successful  Ghanaian businessmen to help determine how they have managed to attain success. 

Our meetings focused on hearing their experiences, their challenges, as well as their formula for breaking out of the crowd.

Based on my experiences of organising business meetings in Ghana, I am going to elaborate on business etiquette in general, with the hope to give a few more insights, explanations and tips for doing business in Ghana.

I have to specify that the insights which will be given below were collected from Ghanaians currently living and working in Ghana, as opposed to Ghanaians from the diaspora who have recently come back to open up businesses back home.

“There’s no food for lazy man” is a common saying displayed all over Accra, and one I happened to hear today on my first day in Ghana.

Many of these proverbs beautifully illustrate the values of Ghanain people.