In the just – ended GIPC Young Entrepreneurs’ Forum 2018 held at the Labadi Beach Hotel that sought to create a platform to motivate young entrepreneurs and provide avenues to assist them strategically prepare their businesses for funding and partnership the resource person at the master class outlined a number things that investors look for before putting money into a start up business.

According to the resource persons, investors are looking for unicorns — companies they believe will become profitable and sustainable in the long-term.

Investors aren’t just investing in ideas. They’re investing in the person (or people) behind that great idea. To win a pitch for funding therefore it is essential that your persona as a business initiator be above reproach and beaming with confidence.

Understanding their inspiration and personal connection to their business helps investors get a sense for what makes that founder a pitch winner. A high value is also placed on founder-market fit.

Investors can only invest in companies that give them a sense of conviction. Fund donors sometimes meet really incredible entrepreneurs but lack conviction about some aspect of their business or how they’re addressing the market

To increase your funding chances, it helps to get inside the minds of your potential investors. You have to believe you can build something that never existed before. If you are enamoured of your product but have a “if I build it, they will come” attitude that will not work. Investors are watching for customer and market orientation products and services to invest in.

The young entrepreneurs were also hinted  that to win a pitch for funding, it is not just enough to  have a mind-blowing idea in an exciting market space rather, what makes the difference between a $25 million, $250 million, and $2.5 billion start-up is a well articulated plan on how your team executes on it.

Entrepreneurs are advised to bootstrap if they can to preserve ownership and optionality of their businesses. And never to fall into the trap of thinking they can go it alone — one rarely can build a valuable company without the right people around you, they advised.

Source: GIPC PR Team

It is well-established that investment – whether national or foreign direct investment (FDI) — is critical for promoting economic growth and sustainable and inclusive development. Specifically, any investment, including national, intra-regional, and extra-regional foreign investment, expands the productive capacity of any economy and drives job creation and income growth.

Researchers like Chantal Dupasquier and Patrick N. Osakwe have examined the performance, promotion, and prospects for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa. They identified factors such as political and macroeconomic instability, low growth, weak infrastructure, poor governance, inhospitable regulatory environments, and ill-conceived investment promotion strategies, as responsible for the poor FDI record of the region.

The paper stresses the need for more trade and investment relations between Africa and Asia. It also argues that countries in the region should pay more attention to the improvement of relations with existing investors and offer them incentives to assist in marketing domestic investment opportunities to potential foreign investors.

They also contended that the current wave of globalization sweeping through the world has intensified the competition for FDI among developing countries. Consequently, concerted efforts are needed at the national, regional, and international levels in order to attract significant investment flows to Africa and improve the prospects for sustained growth and development.

It is perhaps to address some of the above research findings; the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission is steadfastly espousing cooperative competition principles on regional basis expected to yield superior economic and social welfare benefits with respect to economic efficiency, prosperity, and distribution to achieve inclusive and equitable growth and development.

To “get out in front” of this strategic issue and become a major global leader on this critical subject, the ECOWAS Commission, together with the Member States, has prepared this ECOWAS Investment Climate Policy Framework (ECOWICPF) for adoption by the Member States. The primary purpose of the ECOWICPF is to establish harmonized regional investment-climate policies for the Member States to follow that will maximize the economic and social benefits of regional integration through co-operative competition alliances in West Africa.

In an invitation letter signed by the ECOWAS Commissioner, Industry & Private Sector Promotion; Mr. Mamadu TRAORE, a team of heads of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) and Ministers in charge of investments and policy experts in the sub-region will be meeting in the Capital of Togo on 19^th September 2018 to validate the draft Community Investment Policy and Code.

The meeting will be preceded on the 17& 18 September by a team of experts, representatives of ministries, IPAs and private sector.

Source: GIPC PR Team

The Ghana Investment Promotion (GIPC) is expected to lead a 50-member trade delegation from Ghana to this year’s Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF) billed to come off from 28-29 August, this year in Singapore. The Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF) is the premier platform for business exchange and fostering trade between Africa and Asia.

Organised by Enterprise Singapore, the forum has brought together over 2,000 business and government leaders from 30 countries to explore partnerships and growth opportunities between Asia and Africa. This year, the forum is expected to address critical issues and identify opportunities in key sectors, including infrastructure, real estate, manufacturing, digital technology, and oil and gas, among others.

Ian Lee, Regional Director of Singapore Enterprise, Middle East and Africa, recently called on Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Center (in Accra, on behalf of the organisers, to invite Mr Grant to address this year’s forum and present Ghana’s investment and trade opportunities to the world.

He said Ghana is one of the best countries to invest in because of her political stability. Mr Grant recalled that Ghana and Singapore had enjoyed good bilateral relations for many years and officials from the two countries continue to cooperate in many areas of mutual benefits, including capacity-building and training, education and economic policy making.

At the end of March 2018, the centre had registered 42 projects from Singapore with an estimated value of $1.5 billion. According to him, Ghana stands the chance of networking with over 500 business leaders from top companies in Singapore.

“During the meeting Ghanaian businesses would have the opportunity to interact on one on one basis, as well as listen to top minds from public and the private sector,” he added.

Mr Grant noted that Singapore is one of the topnotch countries in the manufacturing of chocolates and with Ghana being one of the major cocoa producing countries.

According to the CEO of GIPC, the world is currently opening up in terms of trade.

He said Ghana has the best laws that protect businesses and encouraged investors to tap into that.

Mr Grant said an Asia Business Council would be established in Singapore and would be managed by Enterprise Singapore and GIPC.

He explained that the Asian Business Council would be used as outpost to access huge investment potentials and capital that exist within South Asian region and outside China.

“This is a partnership that we at GIPC cherish and it’s dear to our hearts,” the GIPC CEO stressed.

Mr Grant appealed to Ghanaian companies to take advantage of this year’s forum to boost trade and services between the two countries.

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

Ghana’s leading total beverage company, Guinness Ghana Brewery Limited (GGBL), has commissioned a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) production plant at its Achimota site in Accra. The GHC 51.6 million facility is part of the beverage company’s commitment to continuously invest in the country.

Commissioning the new plant, the Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten said Guinness Ghana has made significant contributions to the development of the country over the years and continues to support the socio-economic development of the country even after 58 years of operations in the country.

“This investment is coming at a time when government is talking about a new industrial transformation agenda for our country. It could not have been a better testimony of the vision of our President and where we want to lead this country”, he added.  Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, commended Guinness Ghana for its contribution to job creation and commitment to developing communities through its social responsibility initiatives; while also step changing the cassava starch initiative which was started under the erstwhile Kuffour administration; adding, “GGBL has taken this up and developed what I think is a fantastic product (Ruut Beer) and creating what could potentially become another cash cow for the country.”

The Supply Chain Director at GGBL, Isaac Tosu, briefing the gathering about the production line said the primary raw materials for production at the new facility will be sorghum and maize and the consequent effect will be the increased demand for local raw materials.“Our Local Raw Materials (LRM) programme which was initiated in 2012, currently sources up to 48% of raw materials from local farmers and our ambition is to increase it to 70% by 2020 following the commissioning of this plant”, Isaac Tosu said.

He added that the coming on-stream of the new plant will in no doubt impact the local economy, as GGBL is committed to the LRM initiative which has seen significant investment and impact in the agricultural value chain. Commenting on Diageo’s newest investment on the continent, the President of Diageo Africa John O’Keeffe, indicated that Diageo is a long-term player on the continent and is excited by the potential impact of the group’s investments on the continent, particularly Ghana.

John O’Keeffe said, “Diageo is committed to investing where we source, make and sell our products therefore we are delighted that we are able to support LRM production capacity here in Ghana. This commitment to local raw material use cuts across our other African markets including Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria.

In line with Diageo’s Purpose of Celebrating Life Everyday Everywhere, we are excited that through our investment in LRM, we are able to impact the lives of the farmers from whom we source and the livelihoods that depend on them as well as the communities within which we work”.  The commissioning of the new line was attended by government officials, Diageo officials, the Chief of Achimota, industry representatives and a section of the media.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Ghana’s modest economic transformation over the past 20 months has generated the keen interest of the global business community to do business in the country, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.

Delivering an address at the US-Africa Business Centre, where he received the 2018 Outstanding Leader’s Award, he said the modest successes his government had chalked in transforming Ghana’s economy, was being recognised by the multi-national companies, that were now eager to engage with Ghana.

The President said his government’s overarching goal to diversify the Ghanaian economy, from being a producer and exporter of raw materials to adding value to its exports, continued to receive major boosts from major multi-national companies seeking to invest in Ghana.

He stated that the decision by two global car giants, Volkswagen of Germany and Sinotruk of China, to establish assembly plants in Ghana, with the intention, in the medium term, of producing their vehicles in the country, was a case in point.

“Tech giant, Google, has also decided to base its African Artificial Intelligence Centre in Ghana, which will make it the first in Africa. ExxonMobil has also signed an agreement with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to undertake deep-water oil exploration and production.

“For us, the rapid enhancement of foreign direct investment is an essential ingredient in realising our vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid, that is building in Ghana a strong, productive economy, capable of generating a dignified, prosperous existence for its people, and banishing the spectre of poverty,” he said.

The President told the gathering that his government was creating a resilient and robust economy, “and the macroeconomic indices, at the halfway point of my term of office, are pointing in the right direction,” and “that will be maintained so that we can provide the stability to stimulate investments.”

He stated that by dint of hard work, and the prudent management of the economy, the country’s GDP growth rate, which had declined steeply in 2016, grew to 8.5 per cent in 2017, with growth rate in 2018, expected to be 8.3 per cent.

“Sector after sector, we are making significant advances. We have also taken steps to formalise the Ghanaian economy, and, in the process, we aim to establish the most business-friendly economy in Africa, to enable the private sector to thrive,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo, therefore, urged representatives of Fortune 500 companies present at the event to look at Ghana, and not to ignore her.

“You can choose to invest through the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre or set up as a company in our Free Zones enclave. Regardless of where the investment is, government has instituted several incentives for the investor, depending on the nature of the activity or the location of the investment.

“This is to ensure that your investment succeeds. I assure you that your investments will be safe in fact, and will be protected by law,” he added.

 Source: ghananewsagency.org

Ghana has been chosen by China’s leading cloud computing company, Inspur Group Co. Ltd, to host its regional headquarters in West Africa. The decision, according to Mr Peter Sun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inspur Group, the second largest in China’s Information Technology industry, was because of the impressive economic outlook, and the enabling business, political and peaceful climate in the country.

Mr Sun disclosed this on Wednesday when his company called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on the sidelines of the Ghana-Shangdong Business Conference, which was held in Jinan, Shangdong Province.

Inspur, currently has a 57% per cent share of global sales in the Artificial Intelligence server field, is the fastest growing server vendor in the world, and holds the biggest market share for the sale of servers in China.

In addition to establishing its regional headquarters in Ghana, 10 Ghanaian students would be selected and offered internship programmes with the company, and trained to take up jobs in the company’s operations in Ghana and West Africa.

The Inspur CEO further indicated that the company could invite to China, every year, 30 officials from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, to be trained in the fields of cloud computing and data technology.

He said the company was ready to assist Ghana in the fields of revenue mobilisation and green development, “a real estate development concept that carefully considers social and environmental impacts of development.”

President Akufo-Addo on his part noted “the matters you are interested in green development, mobilisation of tax revenues, and the establishment of your West African Headquarters in Ghana are important matters for us.”

“It will be very good for our country to be involved with major global companies like yours, as it will expose us to the best practices in the industry,” he said.

The President described Inspur’s decision to establish its West Africa regional headquarters in Ghana as an excellent one, because “Ghana is a stable country, our economy is picking up very rapidly, and so it is a good base not just for Ghana but also for West Africa.”

He assured the company of the safety of their investment in Ghana, stressing that “we encourage foreign investment in our country. So, as a base for doing business in West Africa, Ghana is ideal, and it will be a win-win situation for us all.”

 Source: ghananewsagency.org

President Akufo-Addo has assured the business community in China that their preferred investment destination in Africa should be Ghana. He explained that this is because the country “is a haven of peace, security and stability, and because she protects legitimate investments.”

Speaking at the Ghana-China Investment Forum Wednesday, in Shangdong Province, he urged the Chinese business community to take advantage of the growing business-friendly climate in the country to invest in Ghana. “Our flagship agricultural programme, “Planting for Food and Jobs”, our renewable energy sector and ICT growth are all areas of considerable opportunity.

“These are all sectors you can profitably partner with Ghanaian companies, some of whose representatives have come all the way from Ghana to be here with me,” he said.

Having taken the decision to “walk hand-in-hand with China and her business community, because we desire to walk far”, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that China has, since 2015, been Ghana’s largest trading partner, with total trade amounting to some $6.7 billion in 2017.

Governor of Shangdong Province

However, with the majority of exports from Ghana to Shangdong, for example, being crude oil, bauxite and its concentrates, sawn timber, i.e. raw materials, the President told the Chinese business community that “we want to stop being mere producers and exporters of raw materials, and, thereby, deal with China, and, indeed, Shangdong province, on the basis of things we make.”

It is for this reason that he commended to Chinese business community his government’s flagship policy of “1-District-1-Factory”.

“Thus far, companies that have established factories in Ghana, under this policy, are importing machinery and equipment duty-free, are not paying import duty on raw materials imported for production, and are enjoying a corporate income tax holiday for five years,” the President said. He indicated that, additionally, the Trade Ministry has attached two technical experts to provide free advisory services to these companies.

Touching on the country’s infrastructural deficit, President Akufo-Addo said his government is embarking on an aggressive public private partnership programme to attract investment in the development of both the country’s road and railway infrastructure.

“We are hopeful that, with solid private sector participation, we can develop a modern railway network with strong production centre linkages and with the potential to connect us to our neighbours to the north, i.e. Burkina Faso, to the west, i.e. Cote d’Ivoire, and to the east, i.e. Togo,” he said.

The President continued, “We believe that this is an area where Chinese technology and expertise would be very welcome, and we are happy to note that some important Chinese companies are, in fact, making efforts to enter the rail sector of our economy.

“We will know the result shortly, but I am confident that there will be Chinese participation in the development of the Ghanaian rail sector.”

He told the business community that there are several projects in roads, water, housing, transport, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, the exploitation of Ghana’s mineral wealth of bauxite, iron ore and gold, amongst others, which are being structured to attract private sector financing.

President Akufo-Addo, thus, urged them to invest in Ghana either through the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre or set up as a Free Zones enterprise.

“Regardless of where the investment is, government has instituted a number of incentives for the investor, depending on the nature of the activity, or the location of the investment,” the President added.

These incentives, he said, include exemption from payment of import duty for plant and machinery; 25 per cent tax rebate for companies located in regional capitals; 50 per cent tax rebate for companies investing outside regional capitals in the regions; and 0% corporate tax for ten (10) years, and, thereafter, 8% for companies in the Free Zones enclave.

President Akufo-Addo, in conclusion, stressed to the Chinese business community “in future, when you are deciding to invest in any part of the world, certainly in Africa, Ghana should be your preferred investment destination.

“As I have said, we are keen on establishing a business-friendly economy to attract foreign direct investments to exploit our country’s great potential on mutually satisfactory terms. I can assure you, once again, that your investments will be protected in fact and in law.”

Source: myjoyonline.com

Ghana Investment Promotion Centre’s CEO, Yofi Grant, talks about government measures to position Ghana as the preferred investment destination in the region, and the private sector’s role in the country’s transformation agenda.

World Investment News (WI): What improvements have been made to position Ghana as the preferred investment destination in the region?

Yofi Grant (YG): We are actively engaged in the investment climate and carrying out business reforms. Additionally, I think the economy itself, through strong fiscal discipline and consolidation, is being repositioned for stable, sustainable and irreversible growth. This is where the country currently finds itself, and we believe that we are not far from achieving our vision of becoming the region’s preferred investment destination.

Between 2016 and 2017, we saw quite an uptake on foreign direct investment (FDI), and before I came into office in 2016, the total FDI was US$3.6 billion; we targeted US$5 billion for 2017, and achieved US$4.9 billion, which is not far off the target. We are therefore optimistic about achieving our objectives. The most important thing is that Ghana is a resource-rich country, and we have come out with very aggressive policies behind these resources that will change the structure of our economy and present significant opportunities for investment. We believe that economic development should be private sector-led, and this can be seen from our policies.

A good example is the One District, One Factory policy, through which we plan to establish a value-added processing factory in each of the 254 districts, and this is a first and major step in the country’s industrialisation process which will help us reposition Ghana as regional hub.

The One District, One Factory initiative is constructive in the sense that it will create many jobs for young people across all the country’s districts. To kick-start this One District, One Factory policy, we have aligned it with a new policy called the “free Senior High School policy”, or “free SHS”. Our intention is that the future minimum educational level of every Ghanaian will be secondary school level. Thanks to the implementation of this policy, 90,000 students were added to the education sector last year, and this year it is expected that another 80,000 children will have a senior high school education, which is key to the country’s future.

The most important thing we aim to achieve as an attractive investment destination is the realisation that we need FDI to partner with local entrepreneurs and local talent in order to develop the economy.

WI: What role are private investors expected to play, and what opportunities exist for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)?

YG: Many of the projects that are currently in the pipeline will be private sector-led. This will ensure correct pricing and delivery because the government is a partner in these key projects, and this is where you will see the PPP scheme best at play. The government will provide the land and the utilities, and the private sector will provide the capital and the management to make sure these are efficiently run institutions.

WI: How is your office striving to encourage and cultivate trust, enthusiasm and participation from foreign and local companies?

YG: First of all, you have to make sure that the rules are clear, transparent and accessible. We are creating awareness and getting our message across. We are the gateway for investors who are looking to come to Ghana; and we don’t just register them, we want to have a long-term relationship with investors, and help them achieve their investment. With more investment into the country comes more job creation, more established industries and more tax generation, which helps the country expand its social services and infrastructure for the benefit of the people and the sustainable development of the country. GIPC does not see investment as a one-time event; we want investors to stay for the long haul.

Source:  South China Morning Post

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, has expressed confidence of meeting its 2018 target of registering foreign-direct inflows to the sum of $10 billion. The amount, when achieved, would be twice last year’s target of $5 billion.

Out of the $5 billion targeted last year, the Centre pooled $4.91 billion, representing almost 100 per cent of the target. Speaking in an interview with Class Business on how to meet the 2018 target, Mr Grant said they will be targeting specific investment opportunities to realise this target.

He said: “We’ve set a target of about $10billion this year, not just on the general investments, but the reason we set that target is, we’re looking at targeting specific investments, the railways, the Accra Marine Project, the Trade Fair Redevelopment Project, some roads, we’re looking at opportunities in the north and bauxite opportunities, not to mention some of the new oil and gas opportunities emerging…so that’s how we are looking at it now…”

“I’m very positive we can achieve that, we need to work hard, we need to accelerate some of our processes and remove as much bureaucracy and make sure that we do the right things with the investors and the opportunities.”

Source: peacefmonline.com