Editorial: Do not waste the GSE momentum

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Ghana Stock Exchange has something it has sorely lacked, that is, momentum. Three initial public offerings in six months across financial services delivery, petroleum and manufacturing, GH¢2.1 billion in fresh capital raised, and a composite index that has more than doubled in the space of a year. This is not a blip. This is a market finding its footing, and Ghana must seize it.

Credit where it is due. Abena Amoah, Managing Director of the GSE, has spent years making the case, to boardrooms, to family businesses, to regulators, that the exchange is a serious platform for serious capital. The fruits of that quiet, persistent effort are now visible. Three listings. Three Ghanaian stories. The bourse’s revival did not happen by accident.

Kasapreko and ZEN Petroleum deserve particular recognition. These are indigenous, privately held enterprises that chose the discipline of public markets over the comfort of private financing. In doing so, they have sent a message to every business in the country, especially family-owned enterprises, viz., the capital markets are not only for multinationals and state giants. They are for you. The bond-to-equity pathway that Kasapreko has taken, by raising debt first, building disclosure discipline, then coming to the equity market, is a model that others can and should follow.

First Atlantic Bank’s listing carries a different but equally powerful message. Here is a privately held financial institution choosing to submit itself to the full rigour of public ownership with the dual BoG and SEC regulatory oversight, continuous disclosure, scrutiny from thousands of shareholders.

That is a vote of confidence in Ghana’s institutional framework and its economic future. Foreign partners and institutional investors who backed the offer clearly believe this country is heading in the right direction. So should we.

And yet, one question demands an answer. Where are the state-owned enterprises? Ghana has ECG, GWCL, GPHA, and a dozen other institutions sitting on commercially viable assets, operating in sectors with strong cash-flow potential across energy, utilities, logistics, and infrastructure. Why are they not listed? How long must the market wait for the government to match its policy rhetoric with action? If Kasapreko’s founding family can relinquish control and submit to market discipline, what exactly is holding the state back?

Institutional readiness, we are told. Governance gaps. Financial reporting weaknesses. These are real obstacles but they are also obstacles that political will can overcome. The window is open. Investor appetite is demonstrated. The exchange has the capacity. What is missing is urgency.

Ghana’s capital market revival is real. But three IPOs do not make a transformation. The GSE needs depth, diversity, and a pipeline, and that pipeline must include the state. The moment is here. Let us not waste it.

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