Ghana's economy on threshold of take-off

The ‘Opportunities Conference’ 2010 ended in Accra with the unanimous reassurance that Ghana is at the threshold of economic take-off, evidenced by the untapped opportunities that abound in the country.

Speakers drawn from academia, business, policymakers and government representatives at the two-day conference concurred that the best of Ghana lies in the immediate future.

They challenged the over-1,000 participants, mainly youth from the country’s tertiary institutions, civil society activists, business executives, entrepreneurs and investors, to begin to take advantage of the opportunities around them, now.

Dr. Kwame Pianim, an Economist and Investment Consultant, observed that the time has come to change the image of the country and resolve the puzzle of a poor country in the midst of abundant wealth.

He cited that the country’s fortune and potential lies in its strategic location at the centre of the sub-region with its prospects of becoming a financial, investment and communication hub for the 15-member Economic Community of West African States.

This consumer population was estimated at 252 million as at 2006, with the purchasing power of some US$378 billion.

“All we require to realise our potential is to proactively spearhead the promotion of sub-regional integration,” he said.

He indicated that the nation needs to have a change in mindset and some hard policy decisions, especially in areas where there is lack of political will to act boldly in the management of the national economy.

Mr. Pianim further stated that the nation is blessed with an educated class and a diversified and talented Diaspora of over four million nationals.

The nation boasts about 300,000 of these skilled professionals and technicians capable of making up for any human resource shortage the country may encounter or the skilled manpower resources the country may need to diversify the economy into a strategic communication, transportation or financial services hub of the global economy.

He charged government to provide focused and sustained delivery of policy consistency and certainty; to identify and promote the drivers of change in the nation; and to permit private Ghanaian initiative to flourish irrespective of the ethnic, religious or political affiliation of the entrepreneur.

The former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Adei, called on Ghanaians to be more creative in identifying opportunities and work even harder to create wealth and grow the economy.

“I believe it has now been amply demonstrated that if any country is going to build wealth, it’ll need to empower its citizens to start and grow businesses - and attract as much investment from outside as possible.

“An important part of doing this is for entrepreneurs and policymakers to exchange ideas share their expectations and generally help each other to perform their respective roles in the economy.”

Opportunities Conference 2010 was powered by Forethought Ghana in collaboration with the Business and Financial Times, which aims at highlighting Ghana’s business opportunities across sectors and empowering people to create wealth.

It also engaged a cross-sector gathering of prominent business, government and academic leaders in a knowledge-sharing experience on wealth-creation through entrepreneurship and innovation.

Kofi Owusu-Nhyira, Chief Executive Officer of Forethought, speaking with B&FT said: “the conference promises to be the country’s biggest high profile knowledge-based gathering, targetting participation from corporate executives, businessmen and women, professionals, industry experts, academicians, entrepreneurs, government officials, investors, think-tanks and the general public.”

Now the platform has been created for the youth to play their role in identifying opportunities that abound in the country and create wealth to ensure a sustained economic growth, Owusu-Nhyira said.

Other speakers at the conference were Ms. Joyce Aryee, CEO Chamber of Mines; Dr Patrick Awuah, founder and president, Asheshi University; Ms Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry; and Deputy Minister of Energy, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah; Philip Sowah, Managing Director, Zain Ghana; Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority, Alexander Mould; Keli Gadzekpo of Databank; Nana Asante Bediatuo, a legal practitioner among others.