Sherif Ghali has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE), ending a ten-year tenure that turned a small circle of young business owners into one of the central institutions of Ghana's entrepreneurship ecosystem. He founded the Chamber in 2015 with 15 entrepreneurs. It now has more than 19,000 members. In a side interview after the announcement, Mr Ghali described the decision in plain terms. “A good dancer knows when to leave the stage,” he said.
Sherif Ghali has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs (GCYE), ending a ten-year tenure that turned a small circle of young business owners into one of the central institutions of Ghana’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
He founded the Chamber in 2015 with 15 entrepreneurs. It now has more than 19,000 members.
In a side interview after the announcement, Mr Ghali described the decision in plain terms.
“A good dancer knows when to leave the stage,” he said. “That time has come for me to step aside and focus on other things.”
He is not leaving the ecosystem. He said his attention now turns to the Ghana Youth Federation, which he serves as a founding member and currently leads as President, and which he intends to build with the same method he used at the Chamber.
“I built the Chamber from nothing into an institution,” he said. “I want to do the same for the Federation. Young people need structures that outlive the people who start them.”
His second focus is the wider ecosystem. He said he will keep working to bring investment, partnerships and policy attention to Ghana’s entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem, and to connect Ghanaian founders to markets and capital beyond the country.
“The ecosystem is still young,” he said. “Founders need capital, markets and policy that works for them. That is where I will keep putting my energy.”
The Chamber was registered with the Registrar General’s Department in 2016. It joined the Private Enterprise Federation in 2017 and the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs Africa in 2018, giving Ghanaian young entrepreneurs a seat at national and continental tables for the first time.
The programmes followed. The Young Entrepreneurs and Startups Support Fund, the Young Female Entrepreneurs Programme, and the Students Entrepreneurs Programme (STEP) all launched in 2023. In 2024, the Chamber opened yecSpace, the first co-working facility in Ghana built specifically for young entrepreneurs. The National Business Agenda followed in 2025.
Under his leadership, the Chamber delivered business development services to more than 4,000 entrepreneurs, ran over 100 training seminars across the country, funded more than 200 youth businesses, and mobilised over GHS 10 million for youth programmes.
The advocacy record is arguably larger. The Chamber successfully pushed for tax waivers for young entrepreneurs, helped roughly 70 percent of its members access government and donor partner support/funding, and became one of the leading civil voices behind Ghana’s Startup and Innovation Bill.
Along the way, the work was recognized. Mr Ghali received the Young Achiever of the Year award from the Head of State in 2025, the Royal African Young Leaders Award in 2024, and the National Youth Authority’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the same year.
He has spoken at more than 80 engagements worldwide, including a conversation with King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Leadership of the Chamber passes to Agnes Anyawen, who takes over as CEO. Mr Ghali said the transition had been planned and that he would remain available to the incoming leadership.
He continues to serve on the Board of the National Youth Authority, the Ministry of Youth Advisory Board, and as Chairperson of the Commonwealth Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs Africa. He will also continue to sit on the Chamber’s Governing Council.
For members who have known only one chief executive in ten years, the announcement lands as a change of season rather than an ending. The Chamber he leaves is not the one he started. It has offices, programmes, a policy record and a membership base in the tens of thousands.
“The work was never about me,” he said. “It was about proving that young people in this country can build institutions, not just businesses. That is done. Now somebody else takes it further.”
