Special Representative for Global Partnerships Dorothy McAuliffe traveled to Ghana February 7-9, 2023, leading a Partnership Opportunity Delegation (POD) to Accra that focused on fostering collaboration between the U.S. private sector and West Africa’s burgeoning climate technology innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. This private-sector delegation to Ghana was announced by Secretary Antony J. Blinken during the Innovators Gathering at U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on December 12, 2022.
POD Ghana was the first in-person POD since the beginning of the pandemic, and delegates included representatives from startups, corporations, academia, philanthropy, climate and sustainable technology investors, municipal government. The delegation met with entrepreneurs and business leaders from across Ghana at events hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, the Accra Digital Centre, Impact Hub Accra, Academic City University College, and others.
Special Representative McAuliffe and the delegation also held bilateral meetings with Ghanaian government leaders including Minster of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Kwaku Afriye, Deputy Minister for Finance Abena Osei-Asare, and Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Benito Owusu-Bio. These conversations focused on how the public and private sectors in the United States and Ghana can jointly strengthen, deepen, and reaffirm our shared commitment to combatting climate change and spurring sustainable economic growth.
As part of the Office of Global Partnership’s Connecting Climate Entrepreneurs (CCE) initiative, Special Representative McAuliffe joined with Academic City University College President Fred McBagnoluri and Stephen Ozoigbo, Senior Director for Emerging Economies at Arm Limited, to launch the first-of-its-kind CCE Laboratory on the campus of Academic City University College. CCE is a public-private partnership between the State Department and private sector entities to leverage the U.S. entrepreneurial ecosystem to advance climate entrepreneurship worldwide. The CCE Laboratory launched at Academic City University College will be a hub for climate innovation throughout West Africa where students, developers and startups can work with industry experts to create sustainable technology and climate businesses.
For further information, please contact the Office of Global Partnerships at partnerships@state.gov, visit https://www.state.gov/s/partnerships, or follow @GPatState on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. For media inquiries, please contact the Office of Global Partnerships at partnerships@state.gov.
