In a powerful declaration of industrial intent, the Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry, Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, has officially opened the maiden Ashanti Expo 2026 in Kumasi under the theme “Unlocking Business Opportunities in the Golden Heart of Ghana.”
The event marked a pivotal moment in the Mahama administration’s regional development strategy, as it converged the forces of culture, commerce, and capital in the Ashanti Region, signaling that the path to the National Reset runs directly through the industrial and artisanal engine of Kumasi.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry (MoTAI), the Expo was a strategic platform built to foster investment and scale Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In her keynote address, Hon. Ofosu-Adjare underscored that the government’s focus is on moving beyond mere trade toward a sophisticated model of value addition and industrial sovereignty.
“The Ashanti Expo is more than just an event; it’s a critical opportunity to promote culture, commerce, and investment. It’s about creating spaces for entrepreneurs, farmers, and investors to connect and grow their businesses… the government is focused on strengthening the nation’s position as a preferred destination for trade and investment”
Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry
For the Ashanti Region – long considered the commercial pulse of the nation – the Expo represented a formalized invitation for global investors to partner with local manufacturers and farmers, especially with regards to the Feed the Industry Programme.
This initiative is a necessity for a region that sits at the intersection of Ghana’s agricultural and industrial zones. Hon. Ofosu-Adjare highlighted how creating a direct, policy-backed link between the farm gate and the factory floor, solves the supply chain fragmentation that has hindered Ghanaian manufacturing.
She explained that this means ensuring that the Ashanti region’s vast agricultural output is not exported as raw material but is processed within the newly established industrial clusters. This integration is expected to reduce the cost of doing business for agro-processors while providing farmers with a guaranteed, stable market.
The Minister insisted on the Ashanti Region being the primary laboratory for Ghana’s transition to an export-led economy, and the Expo serving as the interface where these policy goals meet the required capital investment to scale them.
Empowerment Through Competition
The Ashanti Expo 2026 is also breaking new ground in how the state supports non-traditional entrepreneurs. Hon. Ofosu-Adjare highlighted the Women and Youth in Business Empowerment Forum and the Pitch-to-Win Enterprise Growth Challenge as critical tools for democratizing access to capital.
These are structured interventions and not symbolic gestures being implemented to provide mentorship and finance to the demographics that drive the majority of Ghana’s informal trade. Hosting a “Pitch-to-Win” challenge within the Expo, is to help foster a culture of competitive innovation.
This provides young entrepreneurs in Suame and beyond with a high-visibility platform to showcase their technical solutions to global investors. For the Trade Minister, it shifts the narrative from “grant-seeking” to “investment-readiness,” ensuring that the next generation of Ashanti industrialists has the technical and financial backing to compete on the continental stage.
While the Expo focused on trade and investment, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Frank Amoakohene, provided the infrastructural grounding necessary for these ambitions to succeed, noting that trade cannot thrive without efficient logistics, and for the Ashanti Region, this means solving the “Suame bottleneck.”
Dr. Amoakohene confirmed that work on the Suame Interchange will resume this very week – a move that will significantly improve the automobile and transport infrastructure in the region’s commercial heart.
Furthermore, the push for the completion of the Boankra Inland Port project remains a top priority. Once operational, Boankra will serve as the primary transit hub for goods headed to northern Ghana and the landlocked Sahelian neighbors.
This logistical synergy – linking the Suame Interchange to the Boankra Port – effectively turns the Ashanti Region into a continental distribution hub. For the investors gathered at the Expo, this infrastructure represents the safeguarding of their supply chains, ensuring that goods can move in and out of Kumasi with unprecedented speed.
The Continental Advantage
Perhaps the most significant strategic advantage discussed at the Expo was Ghana’s role as the host of the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Hon. Ofosu-Adjare encouraged Ashanti businesses to view the Expo as a launchpad into the 1.3 billion-person continental market, as the “Golden Heart of Ghana” is perfectly positioned to act as a manufacturing base that feeds the AfCFTA demand for processed foods, textiles, and automobile parts.
Through leveraging the AfCFTA framework, Kumasi-based SMEs were encouraged to expand their operations far beyond the borders of Ghana. The Expo provided the networking opportunities and regulatory clarity needed for these businesses to understand the rules of origin and tariff structures that govern continental trade.
The reminder from the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, was for the Ashanti Expo to not be an end in itself, but the beginning of a sustained push to dominate the African market.
The inaugural Ashanti Expo 2026 marked a turning point in the region’s economic history, where combining the “Feed the Industry,” initiative with massive infrastructure projects like the Suame Interchange and the Boankra Inland Port, is expected to deliver a self-sustaining ecosystem for business growth.
The commitment shown by Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare and Dr. Frank Amoakohene demonstrate a unified government front dedicated to private sector development.
As stakeholders from agribusiness, manufacturing, and tourism converge in Kumasi this week, the “Golden Heart,” is beating with a new, industrial rhythm. The Expo has successfully moved the conversation towards participation, providing the spaces and tools needed for entrepreneurs to scale.
Under the banner of Ghana’s Reset, the Ashanti Region is not just witnessing a trade fair – it is leading an economic revolution that will define Ghana’s prosperity for decades to come.
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