Friday, December 17, 2010

Check these copy-cats - Essuman

The nation needs to initiate massive enforcement on intellectual Property (IP), counterfeiting and piracy in order to stem the menace and encourage innovation and investment in business, Mr. Kofi Essuman, President, Institute of Packaging, Ghana, has said.

“The fight against counterfeits and pirated products must be an interagency concerted effort otherwise criminals will exploit loopholes in the supply and distribution system.

“The fight must include prevention measures by manufacturers, communication and effective education of professionals and consumers, and ensuring that punishments are appropriate to this deadly crime,” he emphasised.

Mr. Essuman made this statement at a one-day workshop organised by the Coalition Against Counterfeit and Illicit Trade (CACIT-Ghana), which forms part of the on-going National Campaign Against Counterfeits and Piracy.

The campaign under the theme “Say No to Fake Goods, Insist on the Original”, is aimed at creating awareness on the impact of counterfeits and pirated goods on health, the economy, job-creation and national development.

It is also targetted at increasing consistency and effectiveness of IP protection in the country and ensuring the progressive and sustained elimination of counterfeits and pirated goods from the market - thereby creating an enabling environment for increased trade and investment, private sector development and strengthening intellectual property regimes.

The programme is supported by the United States Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Programme (CLDP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mr. Essuman explained that counterfeiting and intellectual property infringement are growing at an alarming rate because this is hardly seen as a crime, and where arrests are made they lack the social stigma associated with many other criminal offences such as robbery and murder. The average consumer is unaware of the fact that counterfeiting poses serious consumer health and safety risks due to the poor quality of products and sometimes hazardous nature of the fakes.

“The counterfeiting and piracy is a drain on the economy, responsible for loss of employment and a reduction in tax revenues for governments.

“The annual cost to the government and industry could amount to millions of dollars, leading to substantial unemployment and revenue losses in the private sector - along with significant tax losses to government.”

Numerous businesses in recent times have been compromised by this black market activity, enforcing closures, depressing profits and undermining their ability to raise capital.

Enforcement officers from the Food and Drugs Board, Police Service, the Customs Excise and Preventive Service and others have carried out a number of raids seizures and destruction of large quantities of a variety of products including drugs, aphrodisiacs, cosmetics, detergents toothpaste, food and beverages, wax-prints, cigarettes, Compact Discs, and Digital Video Displays either found on the market or being smuggled into the country.

He cited that very few lawyers in the country have substantive knowledge of intellectual property criminal law. Similarly, there are few prosecutors who have been trained exclusively in IP criminal law.

As a result, in the few cases where counterfeiters are prosecuted, they typically end up paying minimal fines and serving no jail time. “These nominal fines do little or nothing to deter counterfeiting and the organised criminals engaged in it.

“Ghana as a developing country with weak regulatory regimes is particularly vulnerable to the deluge of counterfeit goods, because enforcement of Intellectual Property and trade mark laws is ineffective,” Mr. Essuman remarked.

Africa’s economic transformation agenda pushed - ACET

Africa’s growth remains modest in relation to what is possible and what is needed for rapid reductions in poverty, economic leaders from over 20 global think-thanks have observed in Accra.

Various leaders from 15 African countries and other development partners proposed that tackling the barriers to the continent’s growth requires an ambitious and comprehensive approach that focuses on shifting to economies dominated by modern industries and services, rather than reliance on low-productivity agriculture and minerals.

“In short, African countries must transform their economies; it is now time to put back at the centre of policy debate and action in Africa, the twin issues of sustained growth and structural transformation,” said the leaders at two-day workshop organised by the African Centre For Economic Transformation (ACET), as part of deliberation which will form part of a comprehensive African Transformation Report to be published in 2012.

Themed ‘The African Economic Transformation Report’, it will track performance across countries, present best practices from Asia, and examine the implications from the global trading environment for transformation in Africa.

It will be an indicator on Economic Transformation with analytical exercises providing recommendations as to how African governments can harness their expanding engagements in support of their economic transformation agendas - including the creation of jobs, development of skills, diversification of exports, expansion of investments in infrastructure and the modernisation of agriculture.

Dr. Yaw Ansu, Chief Economist African Centre for Economic Transformation, ACET, in an interview with B&FT in Accra, said: “It is now time to look seriously at how we rectify this, while also building on the gains made in macroeconomic management and the incentives framework.”

He explained that transformation enhances the scientific and technological capabilities of an economy to continually innovate and upgrade itself, including accessing, adapting, and mastering existing foreign technologies, seek solutions to new economic problems, and to respond effectively to market signals - particularly from external markets.

“Economic transformation requires investments, and it also entails economic and social dislocations that require resources to address.

“In almost all African economies, production is dominated by the primary sector in either agriculture or minerals. With the exception of South Africa and Mauritius, no country in the region has been able to establish a viable manufacturing sector that is competitive internationally in any product,” Dr. Ansu cited.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world. Average real per capita income in 2008 was US$619. Over the past almost 30 years - 1980-2008 - GDP growth per capita in sub-Saharan Africa has averaged 0.15 percent compared to 2.47 percent for developing countries, 6.64 percent for East Asia, 3.76 percent for South Asia and 0.92 percent for Latin America.

This failure of growth over the long-term has resulted in high levels of poverty in the region. On average, 51 percent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa earn less than US$1 a day compared to 25 percent in the developing world as a whole.

Dr. Mwilola Imakando, Executive Director, Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, told in an interview with B&FT said: “ACET objectives will provide an opportunity for a home grown Africans to deliberate and find solutions for Africa’s numerous economic growth challenges.

Dr. K. Y. Amoako, the Founder and President of ACET and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), indicated that the deliberations, which were revealing, would help refine and provide advice in helping to achieve the stated objectives of ACET and aid in transforming Africa’s stagnant economic growth agenda.

ACET was incorporated as a non-profit policy research and advisory institution in 2007. It received strong support in consultations with many stakeholders both within and outside Africa, including the endorsement of a number of African leaders.

Africa’s economic transformation agenda pushed - ACET

Africa’s growth remains modest in relation to what is possible and what is needed for rapid reductions in poverty, economic leaders from over 20 global think-thanks have observed in Accra.

Various leaders from 15 African countries and other development partners proposed that tackling the barriers to the continent’s growth requires an ambitious and comprehensive approach that focuses on shifting to economies dominated by modern industries and services, rather than reliance on low-productivity agriculture and minerals.

“In short, African countries must transform their economies; it is now time to put back at the centre of policy debate and action in Africa, the twin issues of sustained growth and structural transformation,” said the leaders at two-day workshop organised by the African Centre For Economic Transformation (ACET), as part of deliberation which will form part of a comprehensive African Transformation Report to be published in 2012.

Themed ‘The African Economic Transformation Report’, it will track performance across countries, present best practices from Asia, and examine the implications from the global trading environment for transformation in Africa.

It will be an indicator on Economic Transformation with analytical exercises providing recommendations as to how African governments can harness their expanding engagements in support of their economic transformation agendas - including the creation of jobs, development of skills, diversification of exports, expansion of investments in infrastructure and the modernisation of agriculture.

Dr. Yaw Ansu, Chief Economist African Centre for Economic Transformation, ACET, in an interview with B&FT in Accra, said: “It is now time to look seriously at how we rectify this, while also building on the gains made in macroeconomic management and the incentives framework.”

He explained that transformation enhances the scientific and technological capabilities of an economy to continually innovate and upgrade itself, including accessing, adapting, and mastering existing foreign technologies, seek solutions to new economic problems, and to respond effectively to market signals - particularly from external markets.

“Economic transformation requires investments, and it also entails economic and social dislocations that require resources to address.

“In almost all African economies, production is dominated by the primary sector in either agriculture or minerals. With the exception of South Africa and Mauritius, no country in the region has been able to establish a viable manufacturing sector that is competitive internationally in any product,” Dr. Ansu cited.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world. Average real per capita income in 2008 was US$619. Over the past almost 30 years - 1980-2008 - GDP growth per capita in sub-Saharan Africa has averaged 0.15 percent compared to 2.47 percent for developing countries, 6.64 percent for East Asia, 3.76 percent for South Asia and 0.92 percent for Latin America.

This failure of growth over the long-term has resulted in high levels of poverty in the region. On average, 51 percent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa earn less than US$1 a day compared to 25 percent in the developing world as a whole.

Dr. Mwilola Imakando, Executive Director, Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research, told in an interview with B&FT said: “ACET objectives will provide an opportunity for a home grown Africans to deliberate and find solutions for Africa’s numerous economic growth challenges.

Dr. K. Y. Amoako, the Founder and President of ACET and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), indicated that the deliberations, which were revealing, would help refine and provide advice in helping to achieve the stated objectives of ACET and aid in transforming Africa’s stagnant economic growth agenda.

ACET was incorporated as a non-profit policy research and advisory institution in 2007. It received strong support in consultations with many stakeholders both within and outside Africa, including the endorsement of a number of African leaders.

UBA partners Credit Union

United Bank for Africa (UBA) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Ghana Education Service Regional Office Cooperative Credit Union (GESRO) targetted at bringing banking service closer to the general public.

The alliance seeks to provide members of GESRO an opportunity to experience the full complement of banking services using UBA’s banking platform.

Members of GESRO credit union will be issued with ATM and e-zwich cards to as well as enjoy all of UBA’s e-Banking products - such as Wise Alert, which allows customers to receive instant notification of transactions on their account via mobile phone to customers, Internet banking and many other services.

These would offer members the opportunity to access their funds in all the UBA branches nationwide.

Mr. Charles Odonkor, Western Regional Director UBA, at the official ceremony in Takoradi said: “The vision of UBA is to democratise banking in the country, whereby customers would have free and easy access to banking services. This was one of the major drives that brought about the strategic alliance between the two financial institutions.

“Five years of operation in Ghana has produced 26 well-functioning branches and the provision of 40 ATMs across Accra, Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi and Aflao.

“UBA is an international Bank with about 1,200 branches worldwide. It is present in 20 African countries and has been in existence for over 50 years. This was created to unite Africans so as to have access to full banking services both in Europe and in Africa,” Mr. Odonkor remarked.

Mr. Kusi Boachie Yiadom, Chief Executive Officer, GESRO, expressed profound gratitude towards the partnership deal, emphasising that it would provide customers an enhanced financial service with real-time transaction. It would also help promote and quicken small business transaction as well as improve business relations.

Mr. Shadrack Kojo Prah, Financial Manager, GESRO, explained that UBA’s stronghold in modern information technology, in driving the country’s financial sector, would enable GESRO to serve its members effectively.

GESRO as a credit union seeks to achieve the objective of providing credit and advisory services to its over-10,000 members. It has branches spread across Tarkwa, Daboase and Agona Nkwantah with two branches located in Takoradi, all in the Western Region.

‘Mim Cashew Brandy’ re-launched

Mim Cashew and Agricultural Products Company has re-launched its ‘Mim Cashew Brandy’.
The re-launch was aimed at reinforcing its brand-awareness and deepening the products unique attribute as a preferred brandy for every occasion.

“Passion and a commitment to detail are the hallmarks of our distillery, where we capture the beauty and essential character of Mim in the Brong Ahafo region.

“We produce our classic premium Ghanaian brandy in the middle of our own meticulously maintained cashew plantations. Using only the most mature fruits, we double-distil the rich cashew nectar and allow it to mature slowly in oak barrels, coaxing out its exquisite aromatic bouquet.”

Mr. Lars Wallevik, Managing Director, Mim, Cashew and Agriculture Products Company, told managers from various top-class hotels, restaurants and bars in the country as well as operators in the hospitality industry at the ceremony to re-launch the products.

“Taste the good life, enjoy our brandy on the rocks; savour the spirit of our passion, a true Ghanaian original,” Mr. Wallevik remarked.

The cashew, which is used for the production of the brandy 100 percent made in Ghana, is produced from its over 600-acre plantation located at Mim in the Brong Ahafo Region and ccurrently employs approximately 700 workers.

Mim Cashew Brandy, with 40 percent alcoholic content, represents quality, spirit and passion and is the best brandy around the world today.

Presently, the company produces over 70,000 bottles of brandy a month for the local market and will soon be increasing it supply to meet local demand and for export to Europe, USA and also plans to enter the Asian market in the ensuing years.

“The importance of cashew in the country’s agricultural diversification programme has long been realised, and the potential areas of production have been identified through several isolated studies.

It is attracting increasing attention as an export commodity in several countries in the developing world, especially in Africa,” Mr. Wallevik said.

A lot of the cashew in the country is produced in Brong Ahafo, some of which are processed into brandy and cashew wine at Nsawkaw in Wenchi, produced mainly in the Ahafo area around Mim, Goaso and Acherensua.

The major economic products from the crop are the nuts and, more recently, the cashew apple used for the manufacture of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, jams and animal feed.

There has been research on potential for the use of the cashew nut shell liquid as medicine for the control of diseases and as a wood preservation. The gum from the cashew tree is also a substitute for gum Arabic.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

First online trade fair launched

An online trade fair platform aimed at delivering the best exhibition experience across the Internet has been launched at a ceremony in Accra.

The platform, www.ghanasalesfair.com, powered by Web & Software Limited, will be functional in March 2011 and is expected to host over four million Ghanaian customers and attract more than 700 million international participants through electronic campaigns on major website and search engines.

“The online trade fair is a major part of our broad strategy to ensure that Ghana is not left behind in information technology advancements worldwide,” Mr. Philip Gamey, Chief Executive Officer of Web& Software Limited said at the ceremony.

“With Ghanasalesfair.com the future is here with us, the future where the customer will be able to find companies providing products and services they are looking for without having to move from one location to the other or wait for advertisements.

This ushers in a new era of doing business and a new era of collaboration.”

Mr. Gamey explained that the deployment of the first online sales fair platform will deliver the best business exhibition experience across the computer, the phone, and the other Internet enabled devices such as iPads.

“With a consistent increase in the number of Internet users in the country over recent years, there is no better time to make it easier for customers to have access to businesses no matter their location than now.

“Today’s businesses all over the world see the globe as their marketplace, and Ghanasalesfair.com makes it possible for Ghanaian businesses to have a fair share of the global market we have all talked about for a long time.

“Customers should expect an unforgettable experience once the fair opens in March 2011. We’ll continue be guided by business intelligence to make the customer experience more enjoyable and stress-free.

“Our mission is to organise business information in a way that customers can access and utilise far more easily and readily than they’ve typically been able to do all these years,” Mr. Gamey remarked.

Dr. Sam Nujoma pushes for vibrant regional trade

Namibia’s first President, Dr Sam Nujoma, has made a strong case that African government and business leaders need to push forward a vibrant regional integration to promote trade and investment on the continent.

“There is great need for linkages and facilitation of trade as well the formalisation of our trade relations.”

Dr. Nujoma called for the scrapping of visa requirements in order to expand and ensure smooth trade among countries.

He proposed that all member-states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should scrap visa requirements between their respective countries, if trade development is to take place.

“The red-tape that accompanies the processing of visa applications has been one of the main obstacles to exploiting Africa’s untapped business potential.”

The two countries are eager to trade in different areas, but one of the hiccups businesses have encountered has been the long time it takes to process visas in both countries. Dr. Nujoma made this statement during a meeting between the Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) and the Ghanaian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) in Accra.

The meeting forms part of a four-day official visit to Ghana in connection with the first anniversary of Air Namibia’s operations in the country.
He was accompanied by business executives and government officials as well as private sector operators interested in establishing joint ventures with Ghanaian counterparts.

“We have brought Namibian men, women and products so that they can form joint ventures with the main objective of exchanging and increasing intra-African trade that will build the continent as the forefathers always wanted to see,” Dr. Nujoma stated.

Dr. Nujoma encouraged the two countries to embark on joint scientific research efforts in order to exploit the continent’s vast, untapped resources.
”We should educate our children and produce our own scientists and marine biologists,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer of NCCI, Tarah Shaanika, acknowledged the potential for higher levels of trade between the two nations and further stressed the need for both Namibian and Ghanaian businesses to interact, adding that trade between Namibia and Ghana is minimal.

He observed that there are low volumes in direct trade between the two countries, and that most of the trade takes place through South Africa.

Mr. Doni Kwame, Head of Marketing, Trade and Investment of GNCCI, making a presentation on investment opportunities in Ghana, said: “Commerce and trade is the mainstay of every country, representing its collective interest.

“Ghanaian businessmen are ready to partner with the Namibian business investors to boost trade and investment among the two countries.

“There is no significant trade taking place between Ghana and Namibia, but the Chamber believes there are many areas of trade that can be exploited,” Mr. Kwame stressed.

Dr. Nujoma as part of the official visit also met President Professor. John Evans Atta Mills, visited the Princess Marie Louis Children’s Hospital, and laid a wreath at the Kwame Nkrumah mausoleum in Accra.

Greenhill roundtable charts roadmap for economy

The ‘Greenhill Roundtable’ a collection of eminent economic leaders have met to deliberate on critical national issues pertaining to the country’s economic growth and transformation and its relation with development partners.

Spearheaded by the Centre for Policy Analysis, the ‘Greenhill Roundtable’ discussion was premised on the background on the desire for an accelerated growth and development of the country, the recent middle income status, and the impending oil economy, increased South-South cooperation in the face of the changing international division of labour, coupled with the emergence of new economic centers such as the BRICS and the expected changes in the nature of the country’s relationship with Development Partners.

In recognizing that the above issues together create new opportunities and challenges for more effective economic management and governance of the country, Tito Mboweni (former Governor, Reserve Bank of South Africa, former Minister of Labour for South Africa, and currently Chairman of AngloGold Ashanti) was invited to chair and facilitate the roundtable discussion attended by a group of independent analysts, thinkers and eminent persons.

Issues discussed included Medium term fiscal options in terms of size, efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditures.

Revenue mobilization in the context of a rebased middle income economy and the scope and instruments for domestic and external resource mobilization.

Public sector reforms and remuneration and the need for government to use the pay reform process to strengthen public sector institutions by improving human capital.

Public debt consolidation and restructuring and the need to consolidate the management of government liabilities into a comprehensive debt management strategy and to maintain sustainability.

Also discussed were institutions for sound economic management and governance.

Dr. Joe Abbey, Executive Director of CEPA, noted that: “the group, having deliberated widely has identified as way forward to further research and engage widely with stakeholders and public officials on the issues, and to hold quarterly roundtables on agreed themes with the view to engaging government and development partners on the best options for the country’s forward march.

The workshop was targeted at brainstorming on the critical economic issues and providing policy analysis and research which would seek to track progress towards achieving sustained growth and create jobs. It would also propose various economic strategies and identify key lessons for economic growth, he said

It would as well seek to leverage and coordinate a network of experts from local think tanks and other institutions across various sector of the economy in implementing research agenda which feeds into advisory work in individual government economic agenda.

It would engage stakeholder conferences with institutions like the churches seek to provide analytical exercise and recommendations on how governments can harness their expanding engagements to support economic transformation agendas, including the creation of jobs, the development of skills, the diversification of exports the expansion of investments in infrastructure and the modernization of agriculture.

MultiChoice plans digital terrestrial migration

MultiChoice Africa has expressed its readiness to collaborate with African telecommunication regulators to meet the 2015 terrestrial television migration deadline proposed by the World Telecommunication Organisation.

“African governments have a mandate to embrace a digital future and, as a stakeholder whose African roots are very deep, we felt we had to investigate widely, invest in research to explore available technologies and understand what the best standards would be.

“M-Net has always been a pioneer, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that the television systems we put in place not only work well but are the best available; for our partners, for our audiences and ultimately for our continent so that it can progress in line with global development.”

Mr. David Hagen, M-Net Technical Director, told this to journalists from selected African countries in Johannesburg, South Africa, at a programme aimed at exposing the latest Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial-2nd Generation (DVB-T2) technology.

“The new technology, DVB-T2, is set to revolutionise the way Africans will soon use television; re-purposing frequencies to be more effectively utilised away from analogue to digital terrestrial transmissions (DTT) to deliver multi-channel entertainment.

“This opens up multi-channel television to a wider audience of viewers, allowing them more choice and greater variety in their viewing options, carrying several different digital television channels,” Mr. Hagan explained.

The deployment of the technology, which is in collaboration with South Africa’s eTV, has been undergoing trial testing by installing a DTT set-top box in 60 homes in Soweto using the DVB-T2 broadcasting standard.

These 60 homes are clearly illustrative of what Africa can get if it opts for the right technology, taking it to a place on the global stage.

“The second generation DVB-T2 standard is significantly more effective and that’s what we wanted to test, to trial the efficiency of the system in actual homes, to discover the real benefits of putting out the best technology in the world.

“The results of the measure-study have been extremely positive and show clearly that DVB-T2 is an excellent technology providing a viable multi-channel television service for all communities in terms of efficiency and technical performance, providing a gateway to whole world of great entertainment, sport, news, information and more.

“There’s no dish to install and it’s a simple technical process. You simply plug in a DTT box, put up a standard aerial and switch on your television. The same frequency that previously delivered one analogue television channel now gives you a choice of between 18 to 20 channels to watch.”

Hagen, who was pleased with the Soweto DVB-T2 trial and what it has contributed to Africa’s digital future, said: “It’s quite amazing and the studies in Soweto have been very instrumental in proving out the theories; in showing the digital quality sound and visuals at work; in taking a critical step toward complying with Africa’s agenda on digital migration.

“These deployment of DVB-T2, a second-generation standard which conforms to Africa’s frequency band plan and international obligations, will allow Africa not only to leapfrog technology but constitutes an investment for the future - the standard still has a long life ahead of it and none comes close at this stage.

“It is the best technology, for the long-term; it’s reliable, the results tangible, and is a verified success which has already started wining international awards.”