If you’ve heard of PayPal then chances are that you also know that it’s an online payment platform. What’s so great about PayPal is that it’s such a secure platform that it’s recognized and has been integrated into so many of the world’s top commercial and niche marketplaces. What’s not so great about PayPal is that you can’t officially create a PayPal account if you’re in Ghana because we’re on the platform’s blacklisted countries list. Luckily though, there is a simple workaround and you can follow these steps to create a new PayPal account in Ghana.
Here’s What You Are Going To Need
- A national ID card (you’ll just need the details off of this)
- You need an active VISA card in order to be able to withdraw from your account
- An email address, obviously
Step One: paypal.com/LS
Although Ghana is not an officially recognized PayPal country, you can still create and operate a PayPal account. The first that you need to do is enter paypal.com/ls into your browser. That is the domain for PayPal Lesotho (Lesotho is a recognized PayPal country). From there, you can just click on Sign Up For Free.
Step Two: Select Your Account Type
If you’re going to be using your PayPal account primarily to make purchases, then you can just choose a personal account. However, if there’s going to be money coming into your account frequently from different sources, then you might want to go with a business account. It’s the better choice if you want to use your account to get paid on YouTube or some other Freelancing websites.
Step Three: Fill Out The Account Form
Although, you are using the PayPal Lesotho domain, PayPal allows people to create a PayPal account in a different country than where they’re from. This means that you can just go ahead and enter your details. In the Business Phone Number field, switch the country back to Ghana and enter your phone number. Fill out the other details (Postal Code is 00233).
A lot of websites that you might try to earn from have their default currency as the US Dollar. You might want to go with that as your Primary Currency. However, you should note that after creating your account, changing your primary currency is an exercise on its own.
Step Four: Select Your Business Type
Select an option from Individual/Sole Proprietorship, Sole Proprietorship, Corporation and Partnership. Go with whatever option best describes your business. And then enter what product or service you’ll be providing. You can also enter your business URL here, although it’s completely optional to do so.
Step Five: Fill Out Your Personal Details
Here’s where you need your ID card. Enter your date of birth, choose your nationality, and enter the details of your ID card. It is quite straight forward. If you have a business address you can fill out that part of the form as well. Otherwise, just check the Same as business address box and you’re good to go.
Step Six: Link Your Visa Card
Now, you’ve created your account. Click on the Summary tab to confirm your email address, and to link a debit or credit card. There’s an option to link a bank account but you can’t connect a Ghanaian bank account since Ghana is not a recognized PayPal country. So instead, you link your VISA card so that you have access to the funds on your PayPal account.
The Entrepreneur’s Corner is a weekly series that brings you business tips and insights from people with real-world business experience.
Now that you have a PayPal account, check out these freelance websites that you can use to earn some money.
Source: Joel Sam
