5,000 new companies spring up in Sekondi-Takoradi in 3 yrs

• Posted on March 2, 2016
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

SOME 5,000 new companies have sprung up in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area between 2013 and now.

This was disclosed by Stephane Miezan, chairman of the Western Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the commissioning of the chamber’s new offices in Takoradi.

He said the development was heart-warming because it clearly drums home the fact the private sector is the engine of growth for the economy.

“If all these companies are supported to build the appropriate capacities, they will create the necessary potential for the creation of jobs for our teeming youth,” Mr Miezan stressed, adding that the companies also stand the chance of availing themselves to local, national and international opportunities with wider exposure and network.

He said in line with this vision, the regional chamber quickly created the required platform for member establishments to engage in strategic alliances with key stakeholder institutions.

Mr Miezan also disclosed that the National Board for Small-Scale Businesses and Industry (NBSSBI) had also been engaged for training activities in order to effectively equip and empower members to remain relevant in modern business transactions.

He called on traditional rulers in the Western Region to support businesses to thrive whilst urging lawmakers to push for favourable laws to drive growth in the private sector.

The paramount chief of the Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region, Nana Kobinah Nketsia V, who was the special guest of honour for the occasion, urged the leadership of Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry to make the institution the warhead of Ghanaian businesses.

“The chamber must become the warhead for Ghana. It must be the warhead that goes into Africa and goes into the world in the Ghanaians’ interest. It must be a nationalist warhead,” Nana Nketsia declared.

He said the focus and attention of the organisation must constantly centre on the Ghanaian interest, in order to create an adequate ambiance for businesses to grow.

He also urged government to decentralise contracts in the interest of all Ghanaian businesses, instead of concentrating everything in Accra, the nation’s capital.

He said activities of the chamber must be positioned such “that we do our business not for ourselves, but in the interest of our country, in the interest of cultures, in the interest of our people.  If we don’t do that, then we must as well forget it”.

The President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Appiagyei Dankawoso, who chaired the function, catalogued a number of programmes and projects being undertaken under the auspices of his administration.

He assured members of the chamber of the measures being employed to improve the fortunes of the organisation, and called for concerted effort in addressing challenges confronting members at both local and national levels.

From Zambaga Rufai SAMINU, Takoradi