Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia has lauded Volkswagen Ghana and BlackIvy on their collaboration to promote made in Ghana products.
Speaking at a live global event on “Driving the future of Ghana” organized by BlackIvy, Dr. Bawumia rehashed President Akufo-Addo’s vision of a Ghana beyond aid which “calls for a rethinking, a new pathway”.
“What we are launching today, is in line with the Ghana we want to build, vibrant and diversified, inspired by the vision of a ‘Ghana beyond aid’. We are working to attract more companies to follow the example of Volkswagen and BlackIvy and find a home here to drive Ghana’s economy forward at this pivotal time. Producing the quality on display here is not enough. Ghana Made has to be more affordable to our people.
“The VW, BlackIvy story also brings something new; the emerging era of Ghana Made products, their quality and affordability and whether we can find the path of growth through manufacturing that is also sustainable.”
Commending Volkswagen and BlackIvy for their commitment to join forces to raise fund, Dr. Bawumia asserted that the duo will “make a quality home and reliable car attainable for more Ghanaians”.
“Today the vast majority of large household acquisitions in Ghana are paid for in cash. We need new financing arrangements including more readily available mortgages and lease products. This is particularly important because the quality of our homes affects our wellbeing, our productivity and even our health.
He further iterated that, government will hopefully in a year put in place a credit system which allows people to make home purchases
“In Ghana we have already taken steps to put in place the building blocks… that provides every Ghanaian resident here a unique identity which together with your digital address system, gives you the foundation of a credit reference system that will then allow Ghanaians to be able to purchase houses, purchase cars, purchase furniture on credit”.
Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia
Economic growth was also forecasted by the Vice President as he noted that the partnership between Volkswagen and BlackIvy to introduce the first compressed natural gas will augur well for the country.
“The adoption of compressed natural gas and electric vehicles will expand the contribution of Ghana’s local resources to economic development and provide substantial savings in fuel inputs. We can harness gas resources to build mobility solutions for tomorrow”.
Present at the event was the West Africa Director for BlackIvy Group, Lex Canfor-Dumas, who expressed his excitement over the signing of the MOU with Volkswagen.
“At BlackIvy, we are set out to deliver essential products and services that matters in people’s lives and to do so, with a fierce commitment to quality craftsmanship and people-centric services. BlackIvy and Volkswagen’s partnership means we are working together to make our homes and our Volkswagen cars more affordable through financing solutions. We are working hand in hand to promote the value chain for the automotive industry”.
Lex Canfor-Dumas
Without mincing words, CEO of Volkswagen Ghana, Jeffrey Peprah, equally expressed his optimism over partnering with “likeminded organizations that believes in the future of Africa”.
“In the MOU, Volkswagen undertakes to increase affordability of passenger vehicles in Ghana as well as providing modern and green mobility. Furthermore, Volkswagen and BlackIvy plan to assess the viability of reducing cargo emission by [building] a compressed natural gas filling station for commercial vehicles. The pilot will be the first filling station in West Africa.”
Jeffrey Peprah
