The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, has expressed Ghana’s readiness to engage US investors by ensuring the success of their investments in the country.
Mr Grant revealed that plans and discussions are well advanced with some key American businesses including Microsoft, Amazon and Apple, to unveil their presence in Ghana.
This, he explained, will help them take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement to expand their operations on the continent.
Speaking at the 2021 US Ghana Business Forum, the GIPC boss noted that Ghana has reputable prominence and is an attractive place to invest in Africa.
“We are really well positioned to engage the US investors to find out exactly what will make them successful in our country [Ghana], and working with them to ensure it happens. So, we are speaking with some US major companies which we believe should be in Africa now to prepare for the future.
“It’s instructive that we have Twitter announcing to establish its regional headquarters in Ghana and United Airlines also saying it will make Ghana its African hub and Google has also put its artificial intelligence headquarters in Ghana. Then, we are also speaking to other players like Amazon, like Microsoft, like Apple and creating the space for them to operate and operate efficiently for a very strong and emerging African market. The areas that we see as important are predicated on a plan that we called the Ghana Cares Obataanpa Programme”.
Mr Yofi Grant
Making Ghana an investment hub
Commenting on the impact of Ghana on US investors, Mr Grant intimated that Ghana has cleverly positioned itself to achieve and succeed with regards to investments in Africa. Currently, Google and United Airlines have established their presence in Africa through Ghana.
“Strategically, we’ve also positioned ourselves to achieve and succeed in this endeavor of developing the country and building a wealthy nation. Indeed, two of the President’s [Akufo-Addo] real aspiration is one to make Ghana a hub for West Africa and two to make Ghana one of the best places to do business on the African continent. Therefore [it’s] not surprising that Ghana was chosen to host the headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area. And I believe that is what really we should be trumpeting that Ghana remains an attractive investment opportunity”.
Mr Yofi Grant
GIPC urges US investors to invest in the country
Without mincing words, Mr Grant urged US investors to highlight Ghana first in its decision to set up businesses on the African continent. He revealed that the country has a stable socio-political environment for their investments to thrive.
“Indeed, if you look at the past 10 years, the 10 fastest growing economies in the world, seven were from Africa including Ghana. And we believe that we’re going to see a lot more happenings in the near future.
Mr Yofi Grant
Furthermore, Mr Grant re-emphasized that Ghana “should be the place that American investors should focus on”.
“I said our relationship with the US is strategic. Strategic in the sense that we offer the continent to the US on much more conducive terms than many Africa countries will do”.
Mr Yofi Grant
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