PROVIDING RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS

This thesis was prepared as part of the CONNECT project embarked on by Laurea University of Applied sciences, other Universities of Applied Sciences and other stakeholders in partial fulfillment of a bachelor’s degree in business management. The main purpose of the CONNECT project is to enhance growth and speed up the internationalization within developing country markets of Finnish Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs) renewable energy companies.

The main research question addressed is whether Finnish renewable energy companies should invest in Ghana or not. On this premise, the business environment of Ghana was analyzed using the PESTEL framework.

The purpose of the study is to determine the most feasible way to enter into the Ghanaian renewable energy market, to identify which renewable energy solutions would present a better opportunity and to conduct networking activity with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Energy (renewable energy industry) in Ghana.

The research methodology used in this thesis is qualitative research. A questionnaire was administered to solicit information from the renewable sector of the Ministry of Energy in Ghana. The questions contained in the questionnaires were mostly unstructured.

In addition, transcripts of interview with the minister for energy and the Chairman of Ghana Energy Commission were used in the analytical section of the thesis. This was considered appropriate because this is the ministry in charge of renewable energy issues in Ghana and the interview transcripts relates to the main interest of the Connect project.

The results obtained from the study are that the business environment in Ghana is viable for investment, especially in the renewable energy sector where Ghana has abundant resources but competition in the industry is low. Also, solar energy, wind energy, waste-to-energy solutions have a higher likelihood of success in Ghana.

Energy is arguably one of the most vital economic drivers in the world at large. However, when harm caused by fossil fuels to the health of humans, the environment and the ecosystem is catching up with the benefits, there should be the redirection of focus. This has resulted in a focus shift to the renewable energy, where countries in the European Union, United States, China, and others, are setting the pace in renewable energy solutions. Africa, with a huge potential of renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, waste-to-energy, geothermal, hydro, and others, is still lagging behind in renewable energy solutions. This thesis attempts to focus on renewable energy solutions in Ghana by first finding out the state of the business environment in Ghana as well as what renewable energy solutions are most likely to be successful in Ghana.

In the following sections, the business environment in Ghana will be analyzed using the PESTEL (Political, economic, socio cultural, technological, ecological and legal) framework and the energy situation of Ghana also presented.

This thesis is conducted for CONNECT project of Laurea University of Applied Sciences. The connect project to provide growth and boost up the internationalization efforts of Finnish Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) entry into developing country markets. This thesis was based on a questionnaire administered to the renewable energy Directorate of the Ministry of energy in Ghana and interview transcripts of prominent people in the ministry. The main aim of the questionnaire is to solicit for credible information from the main ministry necessary to support the research process of the CONNECT project.

The aim of this thesis is serve as part of the research for the CONNECT project. Ghana is one of the target countries of the Finnish SMEs; therefore this thesis specifically concerns Finnish renewable energy companies interested in providing renewable energy solutions in Ghana.