Ghana’s regulatory environment is placing a significant burden on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), limiting their ability to expand, create jobs and contribute fully to economic growth, a new study by the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) has found.The study, titled “Removing Business Regulatory Barriers for Economic Prosperity in Ghana,” examined the regulatory challenges facing businesses and their impact on economic growth.Speaking at a media briefing on excerpts from the report, ILAPI Executive Director Peter Bismark Kwofie said a nationwide survey of 600 MSMEs conducted between September 2024 and July 2025 found that businesses face lengthy registration processes, multiple regulatory requirements and significant compliance costs.According to the report, 40.83% of respondents said it took more than a month to obtain their business certificates, while 22.83% said the process took three to four weeks.Another 13.8% said registration took one to two weeks, while 17% completed the process in less than a week. About 5.54% declined to respond.A major feature of the registration process is the reliance on intermediaries popularly known as “goro boys”.Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst at ILAPI, Stephen Dansu, said 84% of the 600 respondents relied on “goro boys” during business registration, while 16% did not.ILAPI said the findings point to a link between the use of intermediaries and the time businesses spend obtaining their certificates.Among the 94 respondents who did not use “goro boys”, 80 took more than six months to obtain their business-entry certificates. Eleven took four to six months, while three took one to three months.The report said this highlights the delays businesses can face when navigating the regulatory system without intermediaries.Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst, Stephen DansuThe average cost of business-entry registration was estimated at GH¢1,030, with respondents reporting costs ranging from GH¢60 to GH¢2,000.Mr Kwofie said the challenge is not necessarily the fees charged by regulators but the processes businesses must navigate to pay fees and maintain compliance.He called for flexible payment arrangements for businesses struggling to meet renewal requirements.“Closing a business for non-compliance does not amount to effective enforcement because it takes away the livelihood of the business owner and potentially those employed by the firm,” he warned.The study also examined the proportion of capital businesses spend on regulatory compliance.It found that 27% of businesses spend less than 5% of their capital on compliance, while 31% spend between 6% and 10%.Another 19% spend between 11 and 15%, with 9% spending between 16 and 20%. Eight per cent spend between 21 and 25%, while 6% spend between 26 and 30%.Mr Kwofie said the burden leaves businesses with less capital to expand and employ workers.“Ghana’s regulatory system compared to other jurisdictions places too much emphasis on revenue generation rather than creating an environment that facilitates business growth and job creation,” he stated.He said the concerns are particularly relevant to the government’s 24-hour economy initiative, which seeks to encourage businesses to operate beyond conventional working hours and create more jobs.Mr Kwofie said reducing the number of certificates, compliance time and associated costs would give businesses more resources to expand and employ workers for night shifts.ILAPI also raised concerns about the ability of smaller businesses to grow into larger enterprises.Of the 600 businesses surveyed, 347, representing 57.8%, were micro enterprises. Another 155, or 25.8%, were small businesses, while 98, representing 16.4%, were medium-sized enterprises.ILAPI estimates the micro-to-small transition rate at 44.64% and the micro-to-medium transition at 28.2%.The institute attributed the slow transition to limited access to capital, regulatory complexity and additional licences, registrations and approvals required as businesses expand.Food entrepreneur Samira Sakibu said navigating multiple regulatory requirements has been frustrating, citing lengthy approval periods, repeated follow-ups and similar requirements from different agencies.She said the challenges are limiting her ability to expand and employ five additional workers to complement her current workforce of three.ILAPI has called for a unified digital registration and licensing platform that would enable businesses to access regulatory approvals. It also recommended removing duplicative inspections and digitising post-registration compliance.Mr Kwofie said efforts to establish a unified digital system have faced funding challenges, while some regulatory institutions remain under-resourced and rely on outdated systems.He urged government to channel more resources to regulatory agencies and develop interconnected platforms to make compliance easier.ILAPI said Ghana needs a business environment that encourages enterprises to formalise, survive, expand and employ rather than one that primarily focuses on extracting revenue from them.