Many Ghanaian firms, according to David Ofosu-Dorte, a senior partner at AB & David, have limited their concentration to operating just in Ghana, as opposed to their peers in other areas of the continent.
According to him, Ghana ranks low in Africa in terms of the amount of enterprises that have expanded into other African markets.
He said Ghanaian enterprises must make intentional attempts to grow their operations beyond the country, speaking on the Citi Business Festival’s on-air series on prospects for Ghana.
“If I had to rank countries in terms of the mindset of firms trying to expand and take advantage of the AfCFTA, Ghana would come in fifth.” That means our firms aren’t truly focused on Africa. I believe we have the secretariat chance here. It allows us to quickly access the secretariat and obtain any pertinent information. “Instead of allowing others to do it, we need to do a lot more to push the business mindset and inform them [companies] what they can take advantage of,” he said.
Ghana also rates low on different worldwide measures, according to him, with countries like South Africa and Kenya faring better.
“If I had to rank countries in terms of the mindset of firms trying to expand and take advantage of the AfCFTA, Ghana would come in fifth.” That means our firms aren’t truly focused on Africa. I believe we have the secretariat chance here. It allows us to quickly access the secretariat and obtain any pertinent information. “Instead of allowing others to do it, we need to do a lot more to push the business mindset and inform them [companies] what they can take advantage of,” he said.
Ghana also rates low on different worldwide measures, according to him, with countries like South Africa and Kenya faring better.
He however said the local businesses have the opportunity to change the narrative and become regional champions.
“Unfortunately, we are not doing very well on the African multinational index. You find that if you compare to other countries like South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, Ghanaian entities are not doing so well. We have the opportunity to increase that and to promote our business to become real regional champions, and then we can be much bigger across the content,” he added.
The Citi Business Festival is an extensive program of business events and on-air activities providing inspiration, business ideas, and information to persons who are starting, building, or growing their businesses.
The 2022 edition of the Citi Business Festival is mainly sponsored by ABSA Bank, with support from MTN Momo and MTN Business, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, IT Consortium and GIRSAL.
