By Elliot WILLIAMS
The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Tema Chamber has held its third bi-monthly business meeting for 2025.
The event was held on Thursday last week in Tema. The meeting addressed the issue of businesses raising capital at reasonable interest rates, which the Chamber has identified as a major issue during this current macro-economic dispensation of a relatively high interest rate regime with the Ghana Reference Rate which serves as the base lending rate for commercial banks currently 23.99%; and banks reticence with regards to lending to the private sector because of perceived high risks, with the banking industry currently facing a non-performing loans ratio of 23.6% as at April.
It is against this background that the Tema Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, under the leadership of its chairman, Dr Gideon Amenyedor – founder of J in G, a management and insurance consultancy – put together seasoned experts to address this pressing issue.
Following a welcome address by Dr Amenyedor, the 2nd Vice President of the GNCCI, Alexander Bogney Bewong, who served as the Guest of Honour as the event, delivered a keynote address.
The first presentation was from Sena Agbo the CEO of Strategic African Securities, an investment banking firm owned by Togbe Afede XIV He gave extensive enlightenment on bankable products and emphasized the importance of carefully evaluating cash flows prior to rushing for capital.
The second presentation was by Dr Albert Gemegah, a lecturer at Winsonsin University who advised small and medium sized enterprises to critically evaluate their risks and practice good corporate governance.
Finally, Dr Joseph Osei, a chartered accountant and banker with the Association of Rural Banks (ARB) Apex Bank introduced participants to the concept of Green Finance.
The presentations were followed by a questions and answers session and then a review of GNCCI’s constitution.
