Dr. Daniel McKorley has urged Ghanaian businesspeople to band together in order to help one another and steer the growth of the nation’s economy in 2023.
During the inaugural meeting of the annual New Year Business Forum, which is put on by the Africa Trade Office and McDan Group, he made the call.
At a private meeting on January 5, 2023, Dr. Daniel McKorley, the meeting’s host, said that given the current economic unrest, it will need strong business people with government assistance to transform Ghana from a developing country to a developed one.
He cited how other developed countries grew with few resources and industries.
He said: “2022 has been a serious struggling year. And we saw things that we have never been seen before in this country. We have seen too many things happening in terms of business.
And I feel that the politicians did their best.”
He noted that the government did what it had to do, and right now the private sector must have some voice with ideas and brainstorm.
‘’For us to at least see what we can do to support the government and also if we have any ideas, we take these ideas to government.
“We see how we combine our ideas to make sure that, the business environment becomes a very enjoyable one.
“Because over the years, we have [had] it and yet we are not able to sustain it,” he noted.
He called on his fellow business colleagues to go the Nigeria way.
“Well, see we have had a very weak law and local content. We can go the Nigerian way. In Nigerian, local content is very strong and it’s also about time we toe that line,” he said.
“In Ghana, local businessmen are supposed to have a big say in policy making. However, that is not the case. It looks like the whole business community in Ghana is sitting back watching on for the politicians and government to take decisions. For us, I believe that it’s also about time we strengthened our local content base and with this medium business programme, this is something we intend to take it up,” he added.
Ghana not having a manufacturing plant to process its raw cocoa for exportation was a major discussion which received reactions of frustration from participants of the event. Also, the ineffective roles played by political leaders and the depreciation of Ghana’s currency to the US dollar were discussed.
The New Year Business Forum was aimed at reversing the negative effects of 2022 and seeing businesses on the path to recovery in 2023 and beyond.
The forum brought together 50 business leaders from various industries in Ghana to discuss the lessons learned in 2022 and the strategies for a successful 2023