Ghana must dominate Ecowas market – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has indicated that his government is committed to ensuring that Ghanaian businesses flourish to dominate markets within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

According to him, Ghanaian businesses are respected in the ECOWAS sub-region, hence individual businesses must be urged to take advantage of that respect to penetrate the market.

In a speech read on his behalf by Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo during the CEOs Summit in Accra on Monday May 22, he said: “My government is accordingly asked to ensure the creation of the needed congenial environment for businesses to flourish and thrive for the common prosperity of all.”

“As president, I recognise the urgency of this necessity and my government will be defined by the pursuit of policy and programmes designed to realise this goal.

“For, under my administration, business development and growth will be pursued as a poverty reduction strategy and if you look through the ministries that I have created, if you put them together properly you will know that my goal is to promote the private sector and allow it to flourish.

“In this regard, we need to be mindful of the evolving dynamics of global business. In an increasingly globalised and borderless world, Ghanaian businesses must be structured and oriented not to only compete but dominate the market with their operations. For it is in their competition that they enhance their market share and the overall profit margins.”

He added: “For many years now Ghanaian businesses have been formed and many failed to outlive the founding generations of those businesses. Many of these businesses have remained small in spite of huge growth prospects and while there remain yawning market gaps ready to be filled, they hardly grow to fill these gaps. Ours is a potential that has not been fulfilled but which can and should be realised in our lifetime.

“We can’t wait any longer for the businesses to remain family businesses, for the businesses to remain individual businesses when the potential, the market, is for the rich.

“We are at the centre of ECOWAS and ECOWAS has a market of about 350 million people. Any people within ECOWAS respect the intellect of Ghanaians, respect even the way Ghanaians go about our things, respect that friendly nature of the Ghanaian. How are we exploiting this in our businesses to dominate ECOWAS? ECOWAS is there for Ghanaians to dominate.”