A scheduled nationwide business investment sensitisation forum by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) kicks off in Damongo in the Savannah Region.
The exercise brought business owners from across all the seven administrative Districts and Municipalities in the Savannah Region together.
According to the GIPC, the purpose of the business forum is to enlighten and sensitize business owners in the region on the importance of processing and profiling their businesses to attract investment partners and support from financial institutions.
Meanwhile, Saeed Muhazu Jibril, the Savannah Regional Minister, in his welcome address read on his behalf, noted that the region is endowed with immense potential ranging from arable land, minerals and a host of others which the country can leverage on to achieve growth in the sector.
“Therefore, harnessing the natural resources of the region, particularly in agriculture, will not only reduce poverty but also create employment to arrest the urban drift of young men and women to other areas of the country.”
Saeed Muhazu Jibril
The Regional Minister stated that the region also has the potential of becoming a hub for Agro based industries not only in the Northern part of the country but Ghana as a whole.
“The region has the highest concentration of shea/butter nut trees not only in Northern Ghana but also probably the country as a whole. The potential area of investment is the establishment of a Value Chain System in the production, processing and marketing of these crops. This would bring about good returns to the investors as well as facilitate the engagement of the surplus labour-force.”
Saeed Muhazu Jibril
Mr. Saeed Muhazu Jibril, commended the GIPC for bringing the nationwide forum to the Savannah Region and pleaded with business owners in the region to take advantage of the program to further expand their businesses.
Minister Commends GIPC
The Director of Investor Services Division for GIPC, Mr. Ashong-Lartey Edward, in his address, averred that the visit to the region is to get first hand information on the local content requirements of potential business investments in the region in collaboration with the various assemblies.
According to the Director of Investor Services Division, the forum will provide an ideal platform for the identification and compilation of domestic data on various projects and identify investment opportunities in the region for onward presentation to potential business investors.
Mr. Ashong-Lartey Edward, moreover, stated that the mandate of the urgency is to promote, coordinate, encourage, and facilitate investment in the Ghanaian economy. He added by saying, “this applies to both Ghanaian and foreign based enterprises.”
The Director explained further that the identified investment opportunities will be profiled and marketed to potential investors and also put it on the agency’s website to showcase to the world what the region is endowed with.
Mr. Ashong-Lartey Edward asserted that the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is committed and interested in working with local businesses to attract assistance from viable financial institutions.
Meanwhile, the nationwide exercise is the GIPC’s initiative aimed at augmenting other undertakings to encourage investors to “Grow in Ghana” and “Grow with Ghana”.
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