Government must deliberately hand-pick local businesses from key sectors of the economy with strong potential to become leading Ghanaian brands and provide the structured support systems that could propel them to grow and trade actively and competitively on the international market, says the astute marketer and economist, Professor Stephen Adei.
Speaking at the maiden Made in Ghana Summit (MIGS 2022) in Accra, he indicated that the quest to encourage local production and consumption must be an intentional and continuous process.
“Government must pick some winners; this is the quickest way to get local brands onto the global market,” he said at a gathering of seasoned entrepreneurs, policymakers, the diplomatic corps and the business community.
He added: “A person like Ibrahim Mahama has distinguished himself so well that if you give him something with conditions, he will be able to produce to the world market. We also know that Joseph Siaw Agyapong can become an African leader when it comes to sanitation.”
The astute educationist also called for an end to the seeming politicization of the nation’s industrialization agenda where any new government tends to undermine and stifle the industrial gains of the previous administration.
“In Ghana, we must stop the situation whereby we have NPP industrialists and NDC industrialists. The worst part is that they try to kill the businesses of the other. That is how we keep on killing our potential big brands,” he admonished.
According to Prof. Adei, Ghanaian enterprises may not need the government to be able to do their business provided that the latter provides the conducive and favorable macro environment that supports the sustainability of local brands, especially for small and medium enterprises.
The maiden Made-in-Ghana Summit was organized by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana to deepen the conversation around the need to promote the patronage and consumption of Ghanaian products and services with the broader aim of building home-grown competitive brands that can cushion the growth of the nation.
The one-day summit on the theme, “Building Strong Ghanaian Brands for Global Competitiveness”, convened stakeholders in the local production space to discuss and proffer workable strategies to improve the consumption and patronage of locally-made products and services to drive the growth of the nation.
The Made in Ghana Summit was well attended by government officials, heads of key trade agencies and private business associations and corporate executives as well as the diplomatic corps.