May 2021

According to him, the Trade Ministry taking over the office of the Business Development Ministry, following President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo abolishing of seven ministries in his new government and the merging of others with similar roles, “is not a good feeling”. Calling for the retention of programmes under NEIP, Mr. Ghali further petitioned the President to allow the defunct Business and Development Ministry to operate under the presidency as the Trade Ministry is already saddled with its own itinerary and programmes.    “One would always want that we have a ministry that is focused on the business community; the development of entrepreneurs. But like the President said, the Ministry for Business Development was created for a purpose of which it has achieved the purpose, so it needs to be taken out.  “However, we believe that some of the initiatives the Ministry of Business Development were embarking on, we want them to be retained. We want to see how the Trade Ministry will find a way of ensuring that those things are still going on, and one thing as a business leader your business community wants is that, the national entrepreneurship and innovation plan, that is NEIP, we want it to actually not go directly under the ministry of trade; I have a reason for that. We want it to go directly under the office of the President; if that is done, we believe that, the Trade [Ministry] is having a lot of agencies under them implementing one or two programs. If NEIP should be added to it, I think that NEIP will not be able to function as it’s supposed to be. “So, the initiatives that were embarked by NEIP under the ministry of business development, we are praying that if NEIP stands under the Presidency they will be able to carry on those project. But, as it stands now, it doesn’t change anything; we still believe that the Trade Ministry will do its best, we only hope the Trade Ministry will work with the private sector players to make sure we are able to gel well to dialogue on policies before they come out. We hope that the Trade Ministry will be more engaging and consulting so far as the private sector is concerned”. Sherif Ghali Commenting on the outstanding challenges of access to credit financing, taxation among others facing entrepreneurs with the commencement of AfCFTA in the host country Ghana, Mr. Ghali stated that, businesses are struggling as there isn’t proper understanding of AfCFTA to leverage its opportunities. “One thing we need to understand is that, aside all these, we are looking at a country that should have a strategy for AfCFTA. No matter the issues we are facing internally, when it comes to our entrepreneurs not being able to access funding; what is the strategy of Ghana as far as AfCFTA is concerned? What is our program lineup going into AfCFTA? That is the one thing that is lacking. I know African countries that have issues with access to credit and all that but the fact is that, they all have a strategy… what is Ghana hoping to sell out? “Even if today our government is able to provide access to funding…at the end of the day, what is our strategy? How are we helping these businesses to go beyond the borders of Ghana?” Private sector key to AfCFTA success and Africa’s recovery from COVID-19