The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has asked young entrepreneurs and businesses to enter into strategic partnership with companies with same business interests particularly on the continent in order to expand and sell, while capitalizing on the yet to be implemented Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Currently intra continental trade among African countries barely exceeds 16 percent while trade among European countries according to OECD stands above 60 percent.
The statistics clearly indicate that trade among countries in Africa is limited and almost none existent. But GIPC noted that a bigger advantage is the impending plan to situate the AfCFTA headquarters in Accra.
“For us at the Centre, we see an opportunity in the number of people from Ghana and on the continent, who’ll be employed to work at the secretariat, the kind of services they may require, ranging from housing, transportation, food services, fashion and clothing etc, and how the young entrepreneur can take advantage of this”, CEO, GIPC said at the third edition of the Young Entrepreneurs Forum in Accra.
He maintained that AfCFTA offers the bigger opportunity and platform to export goods and services without barriers to other countries on the continent.
The GIPC noted that the country is in partnership with other countries on how it engages on the Agreement, based on a national objective on trade and export.
“We are looking at a sector that will remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and that is the frame of operations. But at the end, Ghana must be the bigger beneficiary,” Mr. Yofi Grant said.
Purpose of the forum is to energise young people in business through exemplary testimonies of young people who have created successful businesses, motivating young entrepreneurs on how to avoid pitfalls and barriers in business, master classes, exhibition etc.
The GIPC, according to Mr Grant, will also organize a technology investors’ forum by the end of the year to enable foreign investors to tap into Ghana’s growing technology space.
He asked the enterpreneurs to look for opportunities instead of incentives, with the focus on quality products which would cater for needs and demands of customers.
“Government has the incentive of tax break for young business of up to five years, NEIP among others but the bigger incentive is the zeal and passion to succeed,” Mr Grant said.
