From Green Practices to Green Growth: Green Entrepreneurship, Resource Efficiency, and Sustainable Economic Performance among SMEs in Sunyani East and Sunyani West, Bono Region, Ghana

Abstract

Small and medium companies (SMEs) are at the heart of Ghana’s shift to greener, more resilient economic development. But the transition to greener methods of conducting business is also happening against a background of more immediate problems such as growing energy and material prices, availability of capital, and challenges around waste management. This research studied green entrepreneurship, resource efficiency and sustainable economic performance of 384 SMEs in Sunyani East and Sunyani West in the Bono Region of Ghana. The research used a quantitative cross-sectional survey approach to quantify green entrepreneurship via eight observable business activities. Overall, the results suggest that the level of green entrepreneurship activities among the assessed SMEs was modest with an average adoption rate of 45.74%. The most often reported practice was energy-efficiency measures, mentioned by 66.9% of the organizations, followed by waste-reduction initiatives (61.7%). Meanwhile, the lowest was the adoption of renewable energy at 23.2%. Moreover, the data indicated a substantial positive association between green entrepreneurship and resource efficiency (r = .717, p < .001). Green entrepreneurship was also substantially connected with greater sustainable economic performance (r = .558, p < .001). Further insight into this link was offered by mediation analysis. Resource efficiency exhibited a significant indirect impact of 0.0088, 95% CI [0.0062, 0.0117], indicating partial mediation. This implies that green entrepreneurship may enhance the economic performance of SMEs directly and indirectly by enabling enterprises to utilize energy, water, raw materials, and other resources more effectively. Still, many SMEs struggle with implementing greener practices. The main constraints highlighted were limited access to funding and high initial costs for investments in green technology. The results indicate that it is insufficient to promote corporate social responsibility alone for the promotion of SME-led green growth in Ghana. Green investment must be made financially feasible for SMEs through affordable green finance, suitable technologies, and practical resource-efficiency support.