The Chief Executive of Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC), Yoofi Grant, has hinted on plans to draft a diaspora policy intended to promote a conducive business climate for Multinational Corporations.
Speaking on the sidelines of the first diaspora business meeting organized by (GIPC) which is aimed at engaging Ghanaian returnees and other residents hoping to establish their businesses in the country, he noted that the policy will be mutually beneficial and transformational for these businesses as well.
“In the process of formulating a diaspora policy, it includes quite a number of things but we are also taking examples globally… there are many countries which offer various propositions [and] we want to get the best of both worlds but at the end of the day, it must be mutually beneficial, it must be culturally beneficial and it must be transformational for us.
“If you look at history and I said earlier on, there’s no country that has developed as an island. It is always engaged its people, it’s engaged people who are outside and it’s engaged others who are outside to come in and contribute, and I believe that for us, it is time that we recognize that and structure it appropriately, and we know that there are these cultural difference that come to play and we always say that those who come from outside have expectations that can’t be met. But they also have expectations that can be domestically so, it’s a conversation that needs to take place and go through a smooth transition from the diaspora inwards for us”.
Highlighting a significant part of the policy initiative, he intimated that it is aimed at establishing a Ghana beyond Aid.
“It’s more of a clarion call than a policy initiative and it is establishing a Ghana beyond Aid. It is important for us to embrace this s a clarion call in energizing ourselves. Because we can’t have a continent that is so wealthy but yet our people are poor. But the Ghana beyond Aid which is now percolated in an African beyond aid reasserts our own authority in taking advantage of our strengths and our resources to develop the continent and creating wealth on the continent”.
Mr. Yoofi Grant urged participants to embrace the ideals of a Ghana beyond Aid wholeheartedly as “the Ghana beyond aid means building a wiser society; a wealthy, inclusive, sustainable, empowered and resilient economy
According to the GIPC boss, the future of the country is largely dependent on swaying from the import driven initiatives and looking more inward by tapping into the country’s resources.
“It is important for our future, it is important for our continent being wealthy but our people being poor, from having the resources yet being import dependent but also motivating us to do our bit in transforming our own country and our continent”.
