President Akufo-Addo has appointed investment banker Yofi Grant as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC). He takes over from Mawuena Trebarh, whose contract ended on January 20, this year, after serving for four years. The economist’s appointment has been described as appropriate, given his over three decades of experience at Databank.

He served as the Executive Director, Business Development of Data Bank Group between 2009 and 2010, and then Executive Director of Databank Private Equity Limited from 2011 to 2012. An alumnus of the University of Ghana, Mr Grant also co-managed the divestiture of the Ugandan government’s shares in National Insurance Corporation Limited.

He recently told the media in Accra that he would put in place programmes that will improve the business environment and make Ghana the best place to do business in Africa, while encouraging more locals to invest in the country.

He also intends to position capital attraction in a way that will benefit Ghanaians, as well as foreign investors to help grow the country’s economy.

Source: peacefmonline.com

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and the Casablanca Stock Exchange are to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a move to deepen the relationship between the two institutions. The MoU, which will also involve the Securities and Exchange Commissions of both countries, would ensure the sharing of information and communication between the Casablanca Stock Exchange and the GSE.

It will also help in the exchange of expertise and enhance collaboration between operators and regulators of the two bourses.

Mr Kofi Yamoah, the Managing Director of GSE, announced this when a delegation of General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises paid a visit to the Exchange in Accra on Wednesday.

The delegation made up of businessmen drawn from key sectors of the Moroccan economy, including agriculture and industry, were in Ghana to explore business opportunities.

Mr Yamoah said the MoU would enable the two institutions to undertake study tours and update each other of developments in the industry.

“We are very excited about this visit as it would go a long way in deepening the bond between the two institutions,” he said.

The two institutions are members of the African Securities Exchanges Association and the West Africa Capital market.

Mrs. Miriem Bensalah-Chaqroun, President of the General Confederation of Enterprises, Morocco, said a solid and robust stock exchange was the backbone of economy hence the visit to the GSE to have first- hand information on its operations.

She said the delegation was made of big and small companies some of whom already have operations in Ghana and while others prospecting for opportunities to invest in the country.

Mr. Karim Hajji, Director General, Casablanca Stock Exchange, said his outfit was looking forward to deepening of the relationship between the two institutions.

Source: www.ghananewsagency.org

Aller Aqua Group, Europe’s largest producers of environmentally friendly fish feed has opened Aller Aqua Ghana Limited office and warehouse at Senchi Amanfrom in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region.

The company produces fish feed for aquaculture, which is exported to more than 60 countries worldwide, from factories in Denmark, Poland, Germany and Egypt.

The Ghana, office would be a hub, where the imported fish feeds would be bagged for sale to fish farmers in the country.

Madam Tove Degnbol, the Royal Danish Ambassador to Ghana, speaking at the inauguration expressed the hope that the investment would support the development of aquaculture in Ghana.

She said supporting the needed training and knowledge transfer between the two countries had always been the priority of the Danish government.

The Ambassador said the Embassy have been supporting the aquaculture company, especially in tilapia production, to access a business to business facility supported by DANIDA.

She said the Embassy’s plan was to encourage Danish investors to invest in Ghana, since there were potential opportunities to do business.

Madam Degnbol said the Embassy has also advised investors to form partnerships with their local counterparts in there was the need to establish businesses here in Ghana and go by the local content policy.

She said the Embassy stood right advice businesspeople from Denmark on the potentials in doing business in Ghana.

“We are also telling them Ghana is a very interesting country to do business, if only they know how to go around it,” she added.

On challenges, she said land acquisition, frequent powers, infrastructure and demand of illegal fees were hindering Danish business in the sector.

She commended the Asuogyaman District Assembly for their effort to facilitate aquaculture production in the District.

She said the Embassy has received more and more interest from Danish investors wanting to do business in Ghana.

Mr Emmanuel Fosu, the Country Manager, Aller Aqua Ghana Limited expressed the hope to contribute to the growth of the individual fish farms as well as the aquaculture industry.

He said Aller Aqua Ghana would be offering high-quality fish feed for aquaculture in Ghana and the neighbouring countries.

He said the reason for the location of the warehouse in the district was because of the Volta Lake and the number of farmers operating around.

The Country Manager said aside availability, quality and consistence was key in the company’s operations, getting the feed closer to the farmers was their priority.

He said the idea was not to import totally but this was the first phase and as the business grew, phase two would be pursued.

Mrs Abena Kwesiwaa Kyei, the District Coordinating Director, Asuogyaman District called on management of Aller Aqua to deliver quality feed to develop the sector.

She said the Assembly was commitment to supporting the company’s operation to strive with them also developing the Ghanaian economy.

Mr Peter Adzikah, the CEO, African Golden Tilapia Farm Limited said the company has used the Aller Aqua feed over the years and the result was massive.

He said farmers were faced with challenges in the port in the form of bureaucracy and the levy on feed has also gone up.

He expressed excitement for the coming of the company to distribute locally to farmers to avoid all the challenges at the port of entry.

Source: www.ghananewsagency.org

IFC and MIGA, members of the World Bank Group yesterday announced the commitment of US$517 million in debt and guarantees to support Sankofa Gas Project, an integrated offshore oil and natural gas project that will provide a source of reliable, affordable energy in the West African country.

The project will fuel up to 1,000 megawatts of power generation, helping Ghana meet its growing energy needs and displace oil-fired power generation with a clean-burning alternative.

The US$7.7 billion Sankofa project will be developed by Vitol Ghana and Eni Ghana, in partnership with Ghana’s National Petroleum Corporation. IFC has committed a loan of US$235 million to Vitol Ghana and arranging another US$65 million in debt from the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program, a loan-syndications initiative that enables third-party investors to participate passively in IFC’s senior loan portfolio.

The IFC financing is part of a US$1.35 billion loan facility provided by commercial banks, including HSBC, Société Générale, ING, Standard Chartered Bank, UKEF, among others. MIGA has committed these commercial lenders with up to US$217 million in political risk guarantees. 

 Ghana’s government has identified the Sankofa project as one of two transformational projects that will help the country achieve its COP21 commitments for climate mitigation. Once it starts to produce gas in early 2018, the project is expected to reduce carbon emissions in Ghana by an estimated 1.6 million metric tons annually as gas displaces heavy fuel oil—equivalent to taking 1.2 million cars off the road each year or planting 152 million trees.

Sankofa is expected to generate $2.3 billion in revenues for Ghana’s government (per year) and provide a stable, long-term source of domestic gas that will solve Ghana’s chronic gas supply constraints.

 Phlippe Le Houérou, IFC Executive Vice President and CEO, said, “Ghana will require significant power generation and infrastructure to meet the growing needs of its young and expanding population. This project demonstrates that private capital can be mobilized on a large scale to contribute to the country’s energy security. Developing Ghana’s domestic natural gas resources will help the country reduce carbon emissions and provide a clean source of power for generations.”

With this announcement, IFC and MIGA support brings World Bank Group financing for the Sankofa Gas Project to approximately US$1.217 billion, building on a US $700 million guarantee package from the World Bank announced last year that will help Ghana’s National Petroleum Corporation ensure timely payments for gas purchases and that has enabled the project to secure financing from its private sponsors.

Ian Taylor, CEO of Vitol Group, said, “This is a transformational project for Ghana at an important time.  The World Bank Group’s involvement, including financing from IFC and MIGA, is enabling Ghanaian gas to be used for the benefit of Ghana’s economic development.  We are pleased and proud to be part of this project.”

 MIGA’s guarantees will support Vitol Ghana’s commercial borrowing needs for the project and will be issued for up to 15 years, against the risks of Transfer Restriction (including Inconvertibility), Breach of Contract, Expropriation, and War and Civil Disturbance.

 “MIGA’s political risk guarantee is a key part of the World Bank Groups’ long-term commitment to serve Ghana’s rising demand for energy. Moreover, the natural gas from the Sankofa Project underpins the nation’s transition to a low-carbon future.” said MIGA Executive Vice President and CEO Keiko Honda.

Source: thebftonline.com/Ghana

The disconnect between research and industry was the focus at a day’s seminar organized by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to bring players in the two sectors to interact and network.

The seminar, which was on agricultural research findings and investment opportunities in the sector, brought together the Crop and Animal Research institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana Club 100 companies, agricultural sector lending institutions, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and other relevant institutions.

The seminar, on the theme: “Research findings and investment opportunities in the agricultural sector”, created a platform for research institutions to present some latest research findings and opportunities in the agricultural sector. Participants also exchanged information and experiences.

CRIG

Making a presentation on: “Research products of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), investment opportunities in the agricultural sector”, a senior research scientist, Dr Esther Gyedu-Akoto, said after 20 years of pilot-scale production, CRIG had established that value could be added to by-products of some of its mandate crops.

She said, for instance, that only about 10 per cent of fresh cocoa pods (fruit) was commercialised, explaining that the remaining 90 per cent could also be put to commercial use.

She said for each tonne of dry cocoa beans produced, about 10 tonnes of fresh husks could be obtained, which could be used as animal feed.

Investment Needs

Dr Gyedu-Akoto said although CRIG had made several efforts to attract entrepreneurs to take up the large-scale production of the products, it had not been successful and, therefore, suggested that policy interventions be put in place to ensure that the nation fully benefited from the products developed by CRIG.

Importation of Meat

The Director of the Animal Research Institute, Dr E.K. Adu, who spoke on investment opportunities in the livestock industry, said the country spent about $200 million to import meat and meat products, explaining that poultry imports alone constituted about 80 per cent of the total meat imports.

He said by that Ghana was supporting job creation in countries such as Brazil, USA and Belgium, adding that the development was detrimental to the local livestock industry.

Dr Adu blamed the continued importation of chicken and chicken products on the interference of politicians, stressing: “We have to push them to listen to us, to let them understand that some of these can create problems for us.”

Source: www.graphic.com.gh

Invest in Africa (IIA), an organisation focused on tackling shared private sector challenges has organised its second Africa Partner Pool (APP) Business networking forum for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana.

The forum created the platform for SMEs in Ghana to network with APP buying companies, including Ecobank, Lorhno, UT Bank, Guinness Ghana Limited, Tullow Ghana, Newmont and General Electric.

The event is on the theme: “Creating Thriving Businesses Through Quality Standards and Taxation.”

Mr Sam Brandful, Ghana Manager of IIA, said the APP was the core of IIA’s work in Ghana and the directory assist local suppliers and buyers to promote their businesses and increase their ability to tender more competitively.

He said the forum was to bring together suppliers and buyers on the APP platform to move the relationship from an online basis to see exactly, who they were dealing with within the pool.

He said it was also to interact and form closer business linkages between suppliers and buyers to forge a stronger network of businesses.

He said there should not only be the concentration on the networking but also discussions on business topics that would promote the interest of their businesses.

Mrs Mawuena Trebrah, the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, said the Centre was committed in supporting businesses in promoting their activities.

She said the income tax formed have seen a couple of evolvements throughout the period to stabilise the tax regime.

“It is to encourage the businesses community to invest in the Ghanaian economy,” she added.

She said there were tax holidays for investors, especially for those, who intended to invest in agriculture, since government’s objective was to creative more jobs to grow its economy.

“Businesses in these areas enjoy tax holiday ranging from five to 10 years,” she said.

Mrs Trebrah said on quality standards, the focus was to ensure that products and services met local and international standards.

The CEO said the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) was also helping to make sure there were highly standards on products produced in the country.

Mr Winfred Tettevi, the Acting Director, Monitoring and Evaluation said the authority was harmonising regulations to meet international standards.

He said even though, applications for standard was not compulsory, doing business without standards was equal to not doing business at all.

The Acting Director encouraged business owners to approach issues of standardisation with the urgency it required.

“If you want to do real business and promote it internationally, standard is needed,” he added.

Mrs Mary Nana Ama Kitcher, the CEO of Empyreal Design and Build told the GNA that joining the APP was an eye opener and it had given her company the opportunity to network.

She said it had also given them the opportunity to position themselves to expand improve on their business operations.

Source: www.ghananewsagency.org

The report, “Connecting to Compete 2016 – Trade Logistics in the Global Economy,” indicated that the country moved 12 places up from 100th in 2014 to 88th in 2016 out of 160 countries.

This is the largest year on year increase in Ghana’s global LPI ranking since the survey was first undertaken in 2007. Particular improvements were noted in the overall timeliness of Ghana’s shipments reaching their destination within the scheduled time and the efficiency of Customs and Border Control Agencies also showed major improvements.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of West Blue Consulting and implementer of the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) programme, Ms Valentina Mintah, said “We are delighted with these results as they prove yet again the impact that the Single Window Programme is having on the performance of the Ghanaian economy.”

Customs efficiency

“The efficiency of customs and border management clearance showed a marked improvement of 37 points, with previous downward trends of -27 and -17 in 2014 and 2012 respectively.

“The frequency with which shipments reach consignees within scheduled or expected delivery times (“Timeliness”)” component also chalked up an improvement of 31 points compared to 12 and 17 in the years 2014 and 2012,” she stated

She added that many of the improvements noted in the Report were directly related to the specific measures delivered under the GNSW Programme, such as improvements in timeliness and the operations of Customs and related Agencies.

“We expect these improvements to continue over the coming years as we roll out many additional deliverables under the GNSW Programme. We certainly cannot become complacent with these good results, as this is a very competitive environment,” she said, and added that Ghana had made great stride and we must continue steadfastly on this path to secure a dynamic and competitive trading environment in the country.

Technical Committee

Ms. Mintah expressed gratitude to GRA Customs, the GNSW Technical Committee, Partner Government Agencies, the business community and staff of West Blue who have been key players in achieving this feat.

“I would like to express thanks for all the hard work being done in this regard by our colleagues in GRA Customs, the GNSW Technical Committee, the Partner Government Agencies, the business community and staff of West Blue, all of whom have been key players in this success so far. Most critically, I would like to laud the Government of Ghana, President John Mahama and the GNSW Steering Committee for this programme,” she said.

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has since 2013 organized a series of quarterly breakfast meetings with Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s) of various companies in Ghana. The objective of the series is to develop dynamic and innovative solutions to some economic challenges to further enhance government policies.

This initiative, introduced by the CEO of GIPC, Mrs. Mawuena Trebarh, provides a great platform for business leaders to network with their peers, interact with each other and deliberate on issues geared towards influencing government policy formulation at the highest level. The GIPC’s Quarterly Business Breakfast Meetings for CEOs’ has grown strong over the years.

The Centre on November 14, 2016 was privileged to have His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama personally host the 12^th edition, of the CEO’s Breakfast Meeting at Labadi Beach Hotel to interact with the Ghanaian Business community as well as discuss pertinent issues relating to the private sector of Ghana.

The event which brought together CEO’s from 61 companies from all key sectors saw the President use the opportunity to provide reasons for the “tough” decisions he has had to take, assuring a cross section of business leaders of better times ahead. The CEO’s present at the meeting were from companies in the pharmaceutical, agriculture and food processing, information and communication technology, energy, steel, and automobile industries. Others were from banking and finance, construction and the hospitality and tourism sector.

Touching on three key areas, which were: stabilising the economy; resolving the power crisis; and restoring socio-economic infrastructure, President Mahama told the business community that Ghana’s economy is resilient and stronger than it was in 2013.

“We are blessed because we suffered our problems earlier before the recession and as a result of that we started structural reforms at the right time. You notice that our economy is showing some more resilience at a time when everybody is facing economic headwinds,” he said.

The President added that with a relatively stable currency in 2016, and the introduction of the Public Debt Management Strategy, that tries to control government borrowing, government is trying to create a situation where it does not crowd out the private sector and thus help reduce interest rates.

As part of the IMF programme, Government is also working on a public debt management strategy to ensure a reduction in the incident of the public debt. From a high of about 73 percent of GDP to about 67 percent currently, Government will continue to work towards ensuring the public debt drops further.

President Mahama also assured the private sector of more support to SMEs, as well as industries that help in import substitution, like the pharmaceutical sector, so that government can help in shoring up foreign exchange reserves.

The President added that Ghana has a history of peaceful, transparent and successful elections and he believes that this seventh election under the fourth republic is going to be no different. He also pledged to engage more with the private business community soon and lauded the GIPC for their initiative in bringing together the business community to discuss pertinent issues and inform policy decisions.