Two Days of Dialogue, Practical Learning and Strategic Collaboration on the Future of Work, Health and Labour in Ghana
As Ghana confronts a growing challenge of skilled talent attrition, brain drain and changing expectations of the modern workforce, the Ghana Health & Labour Summit (GHL Summit) 2026 is set to provide a timely national platform for dialogue, collaboration and practical action.
The 2nd Annual Ghana Health & Labour Summit will take place from Thursday, 8 to Friday, 9 October 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day, at the WAGMC Conference Facility, University of Ghana, Accra. Organised by MentaPulse Africa, the two-day summit will bring together employers, policymakers, health professionals, human resource practitioners, academics, job seekers, business leaders and other stakeholders to confront one of the defining challenges facing Ghana’s workforce: how to attract, retain, develop and sustain the country’s talent.
The summit is being held under the theme:
“Work and Wellness: Mobilising to Fix Ghana’s Talent Retention Crisis.”
The theme reflects an important shift in the national conversation about employment. Talent retention is no longer simply a question of salaries or recruitment. It is increasingly connected to workplace culture, employee wellbeing, career development, organisational leadership, opportunities for growth and the broader quality of working life.
Building on a Strong Foundation
The Ghana Health and Labour Summit was established in 2025 as a dedicated national platform at the intersection of workforce health, labour policy and employer practice.
Its maiden edition, held under the theme “Mobilising Against NCDs: The Role of Workplaces in Safeguarding Employee Wellbeing,” brought HR practitioners, health professionals, employers and policymakers together around occupational health and workplace wellbeing.
The 2026 edition builds on that foundation while expanding the conversation to one of Ghana's most pressing workforce concerns: talent retention and brain drain.
According to the summit's project framework, Ghana's retention challenge is shaped by interconnected factors including compensation gaps, workplace culture, inadequate career development opportunities and systemic policy failures. The summit therefore seeks to examine talent retention not merely as an HR problem, but as a national development issue requiring coordinated action across sectors.
Why Talent Retention Matters
Ghana's workforce is changing rapidly. Employees are increasingly looking beyond conventional measures of employment and considering whether organisations provide meaningful career progression, healthy working environments, competitive compensation, psychological safety, professional development and a sense of purpose.
At the same time, organisations face increasing difficulty attracting and retaining highly skilled professionals in an environment where experienced talent can increasingly pursue opportunities beyond Ghana.
The result is a complex challenge involving brain drain, employee attrition, talent mobility and organisational sustainability.
The GHL Summit 2026 seeks to place these concerns at the centre of national discourse and encourage stakeholders to move from identifying the problem to developing practical and sustainable solutions.
The summit's primary objective is to convene Ghana's employers, policymakers, health practitioners, HR professionals and labour stakeholders around a shared agenda for addressing the country's rising talent retention crisis and to generate evidence-based commitments, cross-sector partnerships and a national declaration through the 2026 Ghana Work & Wellness Summit Communiqué.
A Multidimensional Conversation
The summit will explore the talent retention challenge through three interconnected areas: Talent & Retention, Wellbeing & Health, and Policy & Systems.
Under Talent & Retention, discussions will examine brain drain and emigration trends, compensation benchmarking, employer branding, talent attraction strategies and diaspora repatriation.
The Wellbeing & Health component will focus on mental health at work, occupational wellness, employee benefits, inclusive workplace practices and work-life integration.
The Policy & Systems conversation will consider labour law reform, the future of work in Africa, regulation of the gig economy, youth employment and international best practices.
Together, these areas recognise that a sustainable workforce cannot be built through recruitment alone. Ghana must create workplaces and systems in which talented people can develop, remain productive and see a future for themselves.
Distinguished Speakers Driving the Conversation
The 2026 summit brings together professionals and leaders with experience spanning public leadership, human resources, organisational psychology, employment and workplace wellbeing.
Among the featured speakers is Hon. Samuel Awuku, Member of Parliament for Akuapem North, who brings experience in public leadership, governance, youth development and employment. He will contribute to the conversation on “Work & Wellness: Fixing Ghana’s Talent Retention Crisis,” bringing a public-sector and policy perspective to the national workforce challenge.
Also joining the summit is Hilda Nimo-Tieku, Managing Director of Jobberman Ghana, Ghana's leading recruitment and HR solutions firm. With more than 15 years of experience spanning human capital and telecommunications, Hilda has built expertise in scaling operations, developing high-performing teams and translating strategy into sustainable organisational growth.
Her participation comes at a critical moment as Ghanaian employers seek better ways to attract, develop and retain the talent required to remain competitive.
The summit will also feature Samuel Nana Elegba, an accomplished HR executive with 30 years of cross-industry experience. His extensive professional background positions him to contribute practical insights into the realities of workforce management and the measures organisations can adopt to strengthen employee retention.
Another key speaker is Dr. Justice Mensah, a Behaviour Analyst, Organisational Psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School. With more than a decade of experience in organisational effectiveness, employee performance and workplace wellbeing, Dr. Mensah will bring an evidence-informed perspective to the question of how organisations can create environments where employees are motivated not only to work, but also to grow and remain.
The summit will further feature Boakyewaa Glover, an organisational psychologist, senior HR practitioner, writer, speaker and mental health advocate. Her participation will bring mental health and psychological wellbeing firmly into the talent-retention conversation.
Her perspective underscores an increasingly important reality: professional excellence cannot be separated from the wellbeing of the people expected to deliver it. Building healthier workplaces requires organisations to recognise employees as whole people whose mental, emotional and professional needs influence performance, engagement and long-term retention.
From Conversation to Action
The GHL Summit 2026 is designed not simply as a conference, but as a platform for practical engagement and measurable outcomes.
The programme will feature keynote addresses, panel discussions, expert presentations, workshops, a job fair, exhibitions, an awards show and a dinner gala. More than 600 participants from different sectors are expected to participate across the two days.
A major component of the summit will be the MentaPulse Africa Job Fair, which will connect job seekers directly with employers and contribute to employment creation and stronger talent-employer matching in Ghana.
This practical dimension is particularly significant because the conversation around talent retention must also address the pipeline of talent entering Ghana's labour market. Creating stronger connections between qualified professionals and employers can help organisations access the skills they need while providing job seekers with meaningful opportunities.
The summit will also seek to showcase organisations already implementing innovative approaches to employee retention and workplace wellness. Such organisations can provide practical and replicable models for other Ghanaian employers.
Building a National Framework for Talent Sustainability
One of the most significant ambitions of the 2026 summit is to facilitate collaboration beyond the conference venue.
The organisers intend to forge partnerships among government, the private sector, civil society and international bodies to co-create a national retention and talent sustainability framework.
The summit will also produce the Ghana Health and Labour Summit Communiqué, a post-summit declaration intended to capture employer and institutional commitments and communicate them to policymakers and the national media.
This creates an opportunity for the summit to move beyond speeches and panel discussions towards a more sustained national conversation about the future of Ghana's workforce.
A Platform for Employers, Workers and Policymakers
The diversity of the expected audience reflects the complexity of the issues under discussion.
The summit is designed for HR leaders, C-suite executives, government officials, health professionals, academics, job seekers and the media.
For employers, the summit provides an opportunity to examine how workplace practices influence employee attraction and retention.
For policymakers, it offers a platform to consider how labour policies, employment systems and national strategies can respond to changing workforce realities.
For HR professionals, it provides an avenue to exchange practical approaches to recruitment, employee engagement, benefits, career development and organisational culture.
For health and organisational psychology professionals, it creates space to examine the relationship between employee wellbeing, productivity and organisational sustainability.
For young professionals and job seekers, the summit provides opportunities for networking, career engagement and direct interaction with potential employers.
The Future of Work and Wellness
Ultimately, the Ghana Health & Labour Summit 2026 is premised on a simple but powerful idea: Ghana's ability to retain talent will significantly influence its ability to achieve sustainable national development.
Talent is not retained by compensation alone. People are more likely to remain where they experience opportunities for growth, supportive leadership, professional recognition, healthy working conditions, meaningful engagement and a realistic pathway towards a better future.
Consequently, fixing Ghana's talent retention crisis requires employers to rethink how they design workplaces, policymakers to examine the systems governing employment, and professionals to engage honestly with the changing expectations of the workforce.
The summit's emphasis on work and wellness therefore provides a timely framework for addressing these interconnected challenges.
Two Days to Shape Ghana's Workforce Future
From 8–9 October 2026, Accra will become a meeting point for conversations that have implications far beyond the workplace.
At the WAGMC Conference Facility, University of Ghana, leaders and stakeholders from across Ghana's health, labour, business, government and human resource ecosystem will come together to ask critical questions, share experiences and pursue practical solutions.
The ultimate goal is not simply to discuss why Ghana is losing talent, but to determine what employers, policymakers and institutions can do differently to retain, develop and empower the people Ghana needs for its future.
With its combination of expert dialogue, practical learning, employer engagement, job matching, exhibitions, recognition and strategic collaboration, the Ghana Health & Labour Summit 2026 seeks to strengthen its position as Ghana's premier annual multi-sector platform on the future of work, health and labour.
As Ghana continues to navigate the realities of a changing labour market, the message of the 2026 summit is both timely and urgent:
The future of Ghana's workforce depends not only on the talent we attract, but on the workplaces, systems and opportunities we create to make that talent stay.
Ghana Health & Labour Summit 2026
Theme: Work and Wellness: Mobilising to Fix Ghana's Talent Retention Crisis
Date: Thursday, 8 – Friday, 9 October 2026
Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM daily
Venue: WAGMC Conference Facility, University of Ghana, Accra
Organiser: MentaPulse Africa
Hashtags: #GHLSummit2026 #WorkWellnessGhana
