Nobody can honestly tell you if kenkey is profitable; the answer sits inside one pot. This page does the sum for a pot: the inputs with their dated 2026 prices, a worked example with made-up quantities, and a calculator where you type your own yield, because no source publishes how many balls an olonka of maize makes.
Updated 8 October 2026. Read on 8 Oct 2026: Channel One barometer, accra.cool, MyJoyOnline on the NPA floors, SpendSanity, GBC, AJFAND, AMA. Prices move; each figure carries its date.
If a ball sells for GH₵ 5 and costs you GH₵ 2 to make, that is your answer. If it costs GH₵ 5.50, no story about "good days" will save you. Everything below is for finding that one number.
Do it for three pots before you believe it. Ball size changes the answer: the Kenkey Index found Ablekuma balls of 739 grams, heavier than a big bottle of beer (GBC, 6 Feb 2024), so a GH₵ 5 ball in one area is not the same product as a GH₵ 5 ball in another.
| Input | Published price | Source (read 8 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Maize | GH₵ 18.25 per olonka (28 Apr 2026); GH₵ 18 per olonka at Makola (sampled 18 Jul 2026) | Channel One barometer, 28 Apr 2026; accra.cool |
| Local rice | GH₵ 46.50 per olonka (Apr 2026); GH₵ 46 (Jul 2026) | same two sources |
| Beans / cowpea | GH₵ 55 per olonka (Jul 2026). The GH₵ 40 quoted earlier was from March 2025 and has been dropped. | accra.cool, Makola sample |
| Palm oil | GH₵ 36.25 per litre (Apr 2026); GH₵ 60 per 1.5 litre bottle (Jul 2026) | same two sources |
| Onions / tomatoes | GH₵ 21 per kg / GH₵ 26 per kg (Jul 2026) | accra.cool |
| Tilapia | GH₵ 88 per kg (Jul 2026) | accra.cool |
| LPG (cooking gas) | NPA price floor GH₵ 11.10 per kg from 1 Oct 2026 (was GH₵ 10.97). Pump price is higher: COMAC projected about GH₵ 17.06 per kg. | MyJoyOnline, 1 Oct 2026 |
| Charcoal | The Energy Commission tracks it by region, but no 2026 bag price was found; write what you paid. | Energy Commission tracker |
Accra.cool is an aggregator of market quotes, not a government survey; the Channel One barometer is a media survey of Accra markets. Neither is a price for your market, so treat these as a check on your own receipts, not a replacement. Not published anywhere we could find: the number of kenkey balls one olonka of maize makes, the price of cornhusks or leaves, ice for ice kenkey, and a 2026 charcoal price.
Example (made-up numbers, replace with yours). The prices of maize, rice, beans and plates are the sourced ones above; the quantities and yields are invented to show the method.
| Kenkey pot | GH₵ |
|---|---|
| 3 olonkas of maize × 18.25 | 54.75 |
| Salt, leaves, water, other (made-up) | 15.00 |
| Gas for this pot (made-up) | 25.00 |
| Cost of the pot | 94.75 |
| Balls from the pot (made-up yield: type your own) | 60 |
| Cost per ball: 94.75 ÷ 60 | 1.58 |
| Sold 56 at GH₵ 5 (4 left over or given away) | 280.00 |
| Left from the pot, before the sauce and your own chop | 185.25 |
| Waakye pot | GH₵ |
|---|---|
| 1 olonka local rice × 46.50 | 46.50 |
| Half an olonka of beans × 55 | 27.50 |
| Stew, leaves, shito, oil (made-up) | 60.00 |
| Gas for this pot (made-up) | 30.00 |
| Cost of the pot | 164.00 |
| Plates from the pot (made-up yield) | 20 |
| Cost per plate: 164 ÷ 20 | 8.20 |
| Sold 20 plates at GH₵ 20 (inside the GH₵ 15 to 35 range) | 400.00 |
| Left from the pot | 236.00 |
The example leaves out the fish, meat and eggs sold on top, rent, the helper, transport and your permit. Those come off the "left from the pot" figure, and they are why the pot sum is only the first half of the answer: the evening count below is the second.
Put in one real pot. Nothing leaves your phone.
Fill in the pot first.
| Item | Published price | Source (read 8 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Ball of kenkey, Accra street | GH₵ 4 to 8; GH₵ 5 the most common price; average GH₵ 5.37 rising to 5.45 over one quarter | CediRates Kenkey Index via News Ghana (page blocked automated reading on 8 Oct; figures are from our 19 Sep reading); method: 30 to 40 Accra spots, 2022 to 2023 (GBC, Feb 2024) |
| Kenkey on the Yamoransa highway | 5 balls GH₵ 30; 2 packs GH₵ 50 | Citi, 11 Jan 2026 |
| Plate of waakye, Accra | GH₵ 15 to 35 at local spots, toppings GH₵ 5 to 15 each; GH₵ 30 to 60 at visitor-friendly restaurants | SpendSanity, updated 1 Oct 2026 (traveller reports, not a survey) |
A 2018 study of white kenkey in three Ghanaian districts found producers processing 10 to 50 kg of dehulled maize, one to three times a week, about 28% of them 50 to 100 kg a week, and 62% of vendors selling 50 to 100 balls a day, 15% of them over 170 (AJFAND, 2018). It is old and covers white kenkey only, but it gives the scale: dozens of balls a day, not hundreds.
The only 2026 profit figure we found is one Kumasi seller telling YEN: "On a good day, I can make GH₵ 500 as profit" (YEN, 11 Feb 2026). It is one self-reported good day with no costs, volumes or prices given. We do not multiply it by 30, and we do not use it to say what you will make.
In Accra the AMA requires cooks, servers and anyone who handles or serves food to customers to hold a Food Handlers' Certificate; the fee published in August 2023 was GH₵ 60, plus GH₵ 60 for the medical screening (AMA, 25 Aug 2023, read 8 Oct 2026). No 2026 fee is published for Accra or Kumasi; ask your Assembly and write what you paid as a yearly cost. How tax fits a food business: how to pay tax as a small business and the GRA Modified Taxation Scheme.
The pot sum tells you if the pot works. It does not tell you the day, because the day has the fish, the helper, the transport and the people who ate and said "I will pay tomorrow". Write each evening what you sold, what you paid, and who owes you, on the daily sales sheet or by voice, and keep the owing in the customer book (how that works). The 4-column evening count shows a full week filled in. Said between customers:
| You say | CountMy writes |
|---|---|
| "Sold 40 kenkey, 200 cedis" | Sale, kenkey, 40 × 5, GH₵ 200 |
| "Sold 3 bowls of waakye, 60 cedis" | Sale, waakye, 3 × 20, GH₵ 60 |
| "Maize 55" | Cost, maize, GH₵ 55 |
| "Gas 40" | Cost, gas, GH₵ 40 |
| "Chop money 20" | Taken home GH₵ 20, kept apart from costs |
| "Adwoa dey owe me 15" | Adwoa owes you GH₵ 15 |
Works in Twi, Pidgin and English on an ordinary Android in Chrome. At night it says whether today beat yesterday.
Say it: "Sold 40 kenkey, 200 cedis"Free. No password, no MoMo PIN, no Ghana Card. Saved on your phone first, with a safety copy kept for you.
It can be. A Kumasi seller told YEN in February 2026 that on a good day he makes GH₵ 500 profit, but gave no costs. Yours depends on what one pot costs you against the balls you actually sell; the pot calculator above does that sum.
No published price or margin for ice kenkey was found in 2026, so we do not give one. Write down the cups, kenkey, milk, sugar and ice for one week and use the same cost-per-ball sum.
No start-up cost is published, so none is given here. A 2018 study of three districts found producers processing 10 to 50 kg of dehulled maize one to three times a week, and 62% of vendors selling 50 to 100 balls a day. In Accra a Food Handlers' Certificate is also required (see Permits).
No waakye start-up cost is published, so none is given here. Price the pot from its inputs (rice, beans, stew, gas) at today's market prices, then test it for a week against what plates sell for: GH₵ 15 to 35 at local spots in Accra.
GH₵ 4 to 8 on Accra streets, with GH₵ 5 the most common price in the Kenkey Index. On the Yamoransa highway in January 2026, five balls cost GH₵ 30. Ball size varies from area to area, so a cheaper ball may be a smaller ball.
About GH₵ 18: GH₵ 18.25 in the Channel One barometer of 28 April 2026, and GH₵ 18 at Makola in an accra.cool sample dated 18 July 2026. We found nothing newer.
GH₵ 15 to 35 for a plate at local spots in Accra, toppings GH₵ 5 to 15 each, according to SpendSanity, updated 1 October 2026. Restaurants aimed at visitors charge GH₵ 30 to 60.
The NPA floor for LPG is GH₵ 11.10 per kg from 1 October 2026. The pump price is higher: COMAC projected about GH₵ 17.06 per kg. No cylinder price is officially published, so write down what you paid and the day it ran out.
Every price above is quoted from the linked source with its date; the worked pots use sourced prices with made-up quantities and say so. The calculator uses only what you type. General information, not business advice. Questions: message us on WhatsApp.