UPSA Hosts 11th Business and Entrepreneurship Conference Focused on ESG and Sustainability
The University of Professional Studies, Accra, played host this week to one of Ghana’s most enduring academic-industry gatherings, as the 11th International Conference on Business Management and Entrepreneurial Development convened entrepreneurs, scholars, and policy leaders to confront a question that African businesses can no longer defer: what does environmental, social, and governance accountability mean for the continent’s competitiveness in global trade?
Held under the theme ESG and Sustainability in Focus: What Does It Mean for Africa and Global Trade, the two-day conference at UPSA’s Madina campus drew a cross-section of voices from banking, forestry, insurance, and the creative economy. Now in its second decade, ICBMED has established itself as a reliable bridge between academic research and the practical realities of doing business in Ghana and across the region.
UPSA Vice Chancellor Professor John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor opened the conference by framing the ESG conversation not as an abstract aspiration but as an operational imperative. He told delegates that there is increasing acknowledgement in Africa that ESG and sustainability are no longer matters of choice. They are now central to business competitiveness, the attraction of investment, regulatory credibility, workforce preparedness, and effective participation in the global trading system.
His remarks reflect a shift that has been building across African boardrooms and government ministries for several years. International investors increasingly screen for sustainability metrics before committing capital. European trade regulations now incorporate carbon footprint assessments and supply chain transparency requirements. For African firms hoping to access global markets, ESG compliance is becoming less a matter of corporate social responsibility and more a condition of entry.
The conference assembled speakers who operate at the intersection of policy and practice. Among them were Elikem Kotoko, Deputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission; Humphrey Tetteh, founder of the Association of African Sustainability Practitioners; and Clara Pinkrah-Sam, who leads the Clatural Academy for Sustainable Art. The diversity of the panel reflected the conference’s ambition to treat sustainability not as a niche environmental concern but as a framework that touches every sector of economic life.
Abdulsalam Alhassan, Executive Director of Wholesale and Investment Banking, and Ade Adebajo, CEO of Springfield Global and Investment, brought the financial perspective, examining how sustainable finance instruments are reshaping capital allocation across the continent. Their participation underscored a growing reality: the money is moving toward ESG-aligned investments, and businesses that fail to adapt risk being left behind.
Ghana’s business community has been slow to embrace ESG frameworks compared with peers in South Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda, where regulatory environments have pushed firms toward sustainability reporting. The UPSA conference offered an opportunity to close that gap, not through regulation alone but through education, peer learning, and the development of locally relevant standards that account for African economic realities.
Professor Alexander Perko, Director of UPSA’s Research and Consultancy Centre, noted that the university has been deliberate about positioning ICBMED as more than an academic exercise. Over its eleven editions, the conference has influenced national conversations on economic resilience, ethical leadership, and digital transformation. This year’s focus on ESG signals a recognition that sustainability is not a passing trend but a permanent feature of the global business landscape.
For Ghana, the stakes are tangible. The country’s extractive industries, agricultural exports, and financial services sector all face increasing scrutiny from international partners and investors. How quickly Ghanaian firms adapt to ESG expectations will determine not just their access to global markets but their ability to attract the foreign investment the economy needs to sustain growth.
GCB Bank served as headline sponsor for the conference, a notable commitment from one of Ghana’s largest financial institutions. Corporate sponsorship of sustainability dialogue suggests that the private sector is beginning to recognise the commercial case for ESG, even if implementation remains uneven across industries.
As the conference entered its second day, the message from organisers was clear: Africa cannot afford to treat sustainability as someone else’s problem. The continent’s participation in the global economy must be both competitive and responsible, and achieving that balance requires the kind of sustained collaboration between universities, industry, and government that ICBMED has modelled for over a decade.
Image Source: MYJOYONLINE
