Danish investors who trooped into the country last week, with Queen Magarethe II of Denmark, have shown interest to invest in government’s flagship One District, One Factory programme.
In an interview with the B&FT at a forum organised last week as part of the visit, CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Yofi Grant said some of the investors have demonstrated high interest in the country’s agro-processing, medical and other sectors.
“The Danish economy has significant strength in most areas. Speaking to many of them, there is diversified interest over here. Many of them are looking at quite a number of things—like the One District, One Factory, which seems to be an interest area for most investors coming in.
“They have also expressed interest in agriculture and technology. They do a lot of medical technology; so, some of the business people I have spoken to have shown interest in that area.”
The GIPC, he said, will continue to proactively engage the investors and match them with local partners; and constantly follow-up in order not to lose the investors.
“What the GIPC is doing now is that when investors express interest, we actually go to them and see how best we can get them to actualise their business. This time, we don’t want to wait for them to come. And we also try to ensure that they partner local people, because that is more sustainable for them,” he said.
As stated in the 2018 Budget, as many as 191 companies have been identified under the One District, One Factory initiative to undertake projects in 102 districts, with the potential of creating 250,000 jobs when implemented.
“The Ministry of Trade and Industry completed technical, financial and commercial viability analyses of 462 proposals, out of which 191 covering 102 districts were selected for implementation,” said Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
“It is envisaged that these 191 District Enterprise Projects will collectively generate about 250,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
Government, he said at the 2018 budget presentation, will allocate a minimum of GH¢2million to each district for implementation of the programme.
He added that 104 of these companies will be operating in the Agribusiness sector; 20 in the Meat and Poultry sector; 40 in the Construction and Building Materials sub-sector; and the remaining 27 are businesses in the Cosmetics and Pharmaceuticals sectors.
The regional breakdown of the companies are as follows: Ashanti 35, Brong Ahafo 19, Central 21, Eastern 34, Greater Accra 28, Northern 17, Upper-East 4, Upper-West 5, Western 10, and Volta 18.
Government has emphasised that the One District, One Factory programme will be a vehicle to revive the country’s ailing manufacturing sector, and add value to agriculture.
