Ghana Private Sector Competitiveness Programme Phase II

27 June, 2025 - 7:49

GPSCP II

Ghana Private Sector Competitiveness
Programme Phase II

The Ghana Private Sector Competitiveness Program II (GPSCP II) is a bilateral initiative between the Government of Switzerland and the Government of Ghana. The Program is being implemented jointly by NIRAS International Consulting and Proforest. The Program is based in Accra but reaches all oil palm and cashew processing regions of Ghana. GPSCP II aims at improving the enabling environment for the cashew and oil palm sectors as well as contributing to increased productivity and competitiveness in the private sector active in the two value-chains.

The Development Partnership with the Private Sector (DPP) is a matching grant facility under GPSCP II supporting small, medium enterprises (SMEs) and associations in the cashew and oil palm value chains to improve processing, markets linkages, business and product development, and skills development. The DPP under the GPSCP II now invites duly qualified processing SMEs and Associations in the cashew and oil palm value chains, to submit proposals for projects demonstrating:

Women owned or led businesses and enterprises with female or vulnerable youth dominated workforce as well as persons living with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.

1. Eligible Applicants

To apply, applicants must be able to demonstrate the following:

Eligibility criteria	Requirement per each category at Concept Note Stage
Eligibility criteria	Large SMEs	Small/ innovative SMEs	Associations
Revenue	Min revenue (GHS 300,000)	Min revenue (GHS 150,000)	Positive
No. of yrs in operation	3	3	5
Formalized /Registration	National registration (RGD)	National registration (RGD)	Articles of Association, including name of elected or appointed executives
Latest Audited Accounts (Financial Statements)	2 years	2 years (Management Report)	2 years (Management Report)

2. Eligible Activities

The grant support is provided/can cover for training, business development services, market access facilitation, capacity building, standardization and certification, product development and technology and efficiency enhancing equipment. However, applicants must provide own contributions to match the grant funding in the following arrangement:

WINDOWS	Grant size	Equipment own-contribution	Services Own-contribution
Large SMEs (SME 1)	max. GHS 3 million	50% contribution to total project cost in cash.	30% contribution to be in cash (training facilities and logistics cost for participation of staff).
Small/innovative SMEs (SME 2)	max. GHS 500,000	20% contribution to be in cash, 30% contribution to be in cash or in-kind.	10% contribution to be in cash, 20% contribution to be in cash or in-kind (training facilities and logistics cost for participation of staff).
Associations	max. GHS 500,000	50% contribution to be in-kind	30% contribution to be in-kind (training facilities and logistics cost – vehicles, fuel, meeting rooms and staff time).

3. Application Process

The application process consists of two stages:

Submission of Concept Note:

The first step involves submission of a concept note, providing a general outline of the proposed project. Submitted concept notes will be checked for eligibility and scored for relevance against specific criteria (see Annex 1) to create a shortlist. The concept note has to be submitted in the format specified below under “Concept Note – Application Form”.

Development of Full Proposal:

In the second stage, successful applicants will be invited to develop a detailed full proposal based on their concept note. Project proposal format will be provided to applicants that successfully passed the first stage of the process.

Evaluation

Both the concept note and the full proposal will be evaluated against the defined criteria outlined in Annex 1.

Submission Deadline:

Concept Notes must be submitted no later than Friday 11th July 2025. For further information on the submission process, please see Section 6 in the Concept Note Application Form.

To assist the applicants of Call 2 and provide a space for Q&A, the Program will organize a Webinar for interested SMEs/Associations, in approximately 7-10 working days from the launch of the Call.

4. Webinar

Join our Informative Webinar Session on the 2^nd Call for Proposals for DPP

What you will be Learning