We were delighted to work with the High Commissioner and his team, along with some of our member companies, to pull this prestigious event together.
Within hours of the announcement of the visit, our members were booking their places, keen to hear about the reasons to invest in the country.
Even with the low oil price, the hospitality industry in Ghana’s national capital, Accra, remains resilient and within the last five years, quality hotel supply in the city has doubled.
Ghana’s economy was strengthened by 25 years of relatively sound management, a competitive business environment and reductions in poverty levels.
The president highlighted that the economy has maintained an average annual growth of around 6% over the past six years, although in 2013 growth slowed to 4.4% with expectations that this will rise to around 8% this year.
Oil reserves are estimated to be around two billion barrels with about 23 new oil and gas sites opened since the 2007 Jubilee discovery.
Because of the emerging nature of the industry in the country, opportunities exist in practically every area of the petroleum sector, both upstream and downstream.
As a farmer, the president highlighted the importance of agriculture in the country, another area where there are good prospects for overseas companies as well as the health sector (particularly pharmaceuticals, research and development, hospital equipment, laboratories and health centres) and very importantly, education.
The UK and Ghana have already developed relationships in business and UK businesses export textiles, beverages, medicinal and pharmaceutical products, road vehicles, electrical machinery and appliances, machinery specialised for particular industries and iron and steel.
One of Ghana’s main exports is cocoa beans ($5.02billion) and staff at the Chamber were delighted to try some of the country’s finest chocolate when at the forum.
After the president completed his address, our delegates had the chance to ask some questions from several of the Ministers focussing on education, IT and connectivity and investment incentives.
After two hours our delegates understood that Ghana is richly endowed with human and natural resources that present numerous business opportunities and, due to the success of the event, we hope to continue the success of our international trade events helping companies enter new global markets in 2016.
