41 Million Businesses, 6% Trade Exports: Why LTIF 2026 Is Taking the Trade Conversation to Accra
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Olu Oyinsan, managing partner at venture capital firm Oui Capital (left), speaking in a fireside chat with Samuel Frank, investment associate at Sahara Impact Ventures, at the Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF) 2025. Image Source: The Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Kingdom.
The second edition of the Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF) opens in Accra, Ghana, on October 6. Attendance is free.
Picture a food processor in Lagos, Nigeria, who gets a message on a random Thursday night. A buyer in Accra, Ghana has seen her products online and wants three pallets by the end of the month. They agree on the price, but everything that comes after that is the problem.
The Lagos vendor would need money to buy raw materials weeks before the buyer pays a kobo. She would need to know what Ghanaian customs will ask to see at the border. And she needs to know exactly what each pallet costs to produce, because a quotation built on guesswork can turn a promising export order into a loss for a small business owner in Lagos.
This is the less glamorous side of African trade: getting the business ready to actually trade. And it is where the numbers become interesting.
Nigeria has about 41.5 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), according to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). Small and medium informal businesses account for nearly half of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and over 80% of all jobs. Yet, their contribution to Nigeria's exports was just 6.21%, SMEDAN said in 2021. That figure has likely remained 10%, with foreign exchange (FX) and macroeconomic challenges pressuring small businesses.
Ghana's case is hardly different. In 2024, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said the country had 1.87 million business establishments, almost three times the 638,235 recorded a decade earlier, showing that more people are interested in starting their own ventures. About 92.3% of them operate informally, and micro-enterprises alone employ 2.89 million people. But the agency said at the launch that about 70% of businesses earn less than GH¢10,000 ($900) a year, and only 0.01% bring in more than GH¢1 million ($86,000) in revenue.
Two countries, one problem: small businesses in their millions, and too few built to grow. That gap is the real story behind the Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum's decision to move from Lagos to Accra.
LTIF is returning for its second edition on October 6–7, 2026, at the Ohene Konadu Auditorium, University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), in Ghana, with a question that is bigger than a two-day conference: what has to change for more African businesses to move from producing for their immediate markets to competing across borders?
The answer is not simply more buyers. They exist. But the problem with intra-African trade is more nuanced: businesses need to be able to produce consistently, price accurately, understand cross-border markets, manage cash and inventory, meet production standards, navigate trade requirements, and become credible enough to attract capital.
That is the conversation LTIF is taking to Accra, Ghana.
From Lagos to Accra
The first LTIF, held in Lagos in November 2025, brought together over 1,500 business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs, with more than 20 speakers.
Source: UGC
Source: UGC
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Source: UGC
A cross-section of key moments at the Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF) 2025, featuring Stephanie Oforka, Minister of Commerce, Lagos Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF). Image Source: Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Kingdom.
Among them were Joshua Chibueze, chief marketing officer of Nigerian fintech startup PiggyVest; Richmond Bassey, chief executive officer of Nigerian retail investing platform Bamboo; Olu Oyinsan, managing partner at venture capital firm Oui Capital; Ifedayo Durosinmi-Etti, chief executive officer of women-focused fintech HerEconomy; and Charles Odii, director general of SMEDAN.
The significance of the first edition was not simply the size of the room. For us, it became the test of whether a forum built around production, investment, trade, and business growth—aligned with Kingdom mandates—could bring different parts of the business ecosystem into the same conversation.
The next test is Accra—and there is a reason the conversation is moving there.
Accra is home to the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), while Ghana provides a natural West African setting for a forum focused on what it takes for African businesses to trade beyond their home markets.
Africa's trade with itself has grown, but intra-African commerce still accounts for a relatively small share of the continent's overall trade. Afreximbank has repeatedly identified trade finance, industrialisation, value addition, and stronger regional supply chains as important pieces of the puzzle.
For a small manufacturer, those are not abstract policy questions. The two-day programme will bring together entrepreneurs, SMEs, founders, investors, policymakers and corporate leaders around production, trade, investment, and economic transformation, discussing topics to the small business owner in Lagos who wants to expand their business.
There will be keynotes and policy conversations. There will be investment-focused sessions, an exhibition and trade fair, and discussions about the practical barriers businesses face when they try to scale.
The aim is not to pretend that one conference can solve Africa's trade problem. It is to put the right questions, people, investors, and businesses in the same room—and make that room accessible for small business owners.
The forum is taking a conversation that began in Lagos, Nigeria into a wider West African setting, with free attendance for every business owner and anyone curious about intra-African trade.
The Lagos food processor, in other words, is not a metaphor for some distant continental problem. She is the story. She needs production that can scale, capital that comes at the right time, information she can trust, and a market she can reach.
LTIF's second edition is asking what it would take to make that journey from Lagos to Accra—and eventually from Accra to anywhere else in Africa—less difficult.
The Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum 2026 takes place October 6–7 at UPSA in Accra. Attendance is free, with registration required.
LTIF 2026 at a glance
Event: Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF) 2026, Ghana Edition
Dates: Tuesday and Wednesday, October 6–7, 2026
Time: Registration and exhibition tours from 9 am, sessions from 10 am
Venue: Ohene Konadu Auditorium, University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Ghana
Cost: Free, registration required
Register: ltifevent.com
Convener: Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Kingdom
For enquiries, reach ltifevent2026@gmail.com
About the Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Kingdom: The Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Kingdom leads the Loveworld Kingdom’s economic agenda. Its mandate is to support economic growth, support industrialisation, and advance the Kingdom’s message through trade and commerce. Through its Department of Commerce Programs & Events, it organises forums and activation programmes, including the Loveworld Economic Summit, the Loveworld Global Trade & Commerce Activation Program, and the Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF).
About LTIF: The Loveworld Trade & Investment Forum (LTIF) is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Kingdom. It convenes entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and business leaders to discuss production, trade, and investment in Africa. The first edition, held in Lagos, Nigeria, in November 2025, drew over 1,500 attendees and more than 20 speakers. The second edition is taking place on October 6 & 7, 2026, at the Ohene Konadu Auditorium, University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Ghana. The program will feature keynotes, fireside conversations, panels, workshops, and business exhibitions.
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