Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Regional Minister has urged all the business promoters and private sector players in the Region to fully embrace the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative to enhance economic activity in the Region since it offers the best industrialization opportunities available in the country for private, local and foreign investors to exploit.
He enumerated that the 1D1F initiative was brought to ensure an even spatial spread of industries to promote rapid industrialization at the district level and was expected to be driven by strong linkages to agriculture and other natural resources to create jobs.
The Minister who was speaking at a meeting with business executives in Takoradi revealed that so far five (5) companies such as Keda Ceramics in Shama District, Narubiz Rubber Processing Factory in Wassa East, GVK & Hodiak Plus Company Limited in Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis and Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL) in Ahanta West were fully in operation.
Mr Darko-Mensah opined that the private sector has provided a huge percentage of employment opportunities including formal and informal jobs to the people of this region which delivers critical goods and services and also contributes to tax revenues and the efficient flow of capital.
He contended that entrepreneurship and businesses have a critical impact in forming the scene of a country’s economy and that the NPP-Government was along these lines focused on advancing and supporting neighbourhood organizations, particularly with the affirmation of the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda.
He said as such, the Government of Ghana has set up alluring drives through the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (NEIP) to offer assistance to both private and public organizations, just as business visionaries.
He added that the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) as of late dispatched the National Exports Development Strategy (NEDS) which is a private area driven, and it shapes part of the Government change plan towards the renewal and fortifying of the economy, from a raw material exports trade to an industrialized commodity-driven economy.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, in my view, the private sector, which we all say is the engine of growth, deserves the support of Government and Public Agencies in order to facilitate its operations, growth and development through the provision of the requisite infrastructure and efficient services”, he emphasized.
He was happy to announce that the private sector was currently the larger employer and has the potential to employ more when compared with the public sector which employs only close to Seven Hundred Thousand (68,000) people out of the Seventeen million (17,000,000) adult population in Ghana thus, only 5% in the public sector.
According to the Minister, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), on the other hand, were the global targets to meet, if businesses in the Region and indeed Ghana, were to be competitive beyond our shores.
He touched on youth development and said businesses cannot also neglect such valuable assets who need to be empowered with knowledge and employable skills as well as the right attitudes and character traits to aspire and do better than we are doing now.
He, therefore, used the platform to urge the youth especially, to participate fully in the YouStart initiative which starts next year in Ghana and Western Region as captured by the 2022 Budget proposal which is expected to raise 10 billion cedis to help young people to start and grow small businesses.
He recounted that the YouStart initiative would be a vehicle to make Ghanaians be “their Own Bosses” and will support young entrepreneurs to gain access to capital, training, technical skills and monitoring to enable them to launch and operate their own businesses.
Mr Darko-Mensah, therefore, called on the private industries to add their voice to the YouStart initiative.
Story: Seth A Danquah
