Nartey speaking in an interview
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of AB & David Africa, David Ofosu Dorte, has advised Ghanaian Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to as a matter of urgency come together to upgrade and consolidate their output in order to take full advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which starts in July this year.
He said that SMEs needed to collaborate and work at improving culture, skills, technology, cost of power and cost of capital in order to enhance quality and leverage on existing networks in order to be a race to reckon with at the continental level.
“If you are not competitive in a 30 million market in Ghana, you cannot be competitive in a 300 million population market in West Africa and you will be less competitive in a 1.3 billion population market on the continent,” he said.
He also indicated that the setting up of a secretariat in Ghana and the relatively larger population size of economy did not equate to taking full advantage of AfCFTA but rather adopting a strategy and having the ability to implement the strategies was needed.
“Location of secretariat is one thing, taking advantage is another thing. The EU secretariat is in Brussels, while the industries are in Germany, so let’s learn a lesson from that.
“Singapore is smaller than Accra but it has a GDP more than Ghana and Nigeria combined. Its size does not really matter,” he said.
Mr Dorte made the remarks at the Third Invest in Africa (IIA) SME Awards which was held over the weekend under the theme, “Preparing Local Businesses for Regional Market Opportunities”.
Jekora Ventures was named as the Sustainable Business of the year, while Joissam received the Star Award for Excellence. Agricaccess Ghana Limited was honoured with both the Business Innovation and Mentorship Recognition Awards while Western Premium was adjudged the Scale Up Business of the year.
Lightingale Limited received the Business linkage Award as BTL Africa was named the Young Entrepreneur of the year.
The rest of the awardees were Consolidated Shipping Agencies Limited which received the Business Technology Growth award and the Africa Integrated Development and Communications Consultancies Holdings Ltd (AIDEC) which was honoured with the Business Transformation award.
Country Director of IIA Ghana, Clarence Nartey, said it was important for local businesses to get ready for the AfCFTA since unprepared businesses risked being sidelined or swallowed up in the African market which had over a billion consumers and a potential three trillion economy size.
By Issah Mohammed