SA businesspeople jet off to Ghana with high hopes |
| The South African businesspeople who are departing for Ghana tomorrow are confident that they will be able to explore the trade and investment opportunities in the West African country successfully. They are hopeful to return home with tangible trade leads and deals that will enable them to enter the Ghanaian market and export their products there.
The businesspeople are part of the Outward Trade and Investment Mission to Ghana funded by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) through its Export Marketing and Investment Assistance Scheme. The mission will comprise of a trade and investment seminar, business-to-business meetings and site visits. According to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, the mission is part of South Africa’s economic strategy for Africa, which is characterised by an outward investment-led trade approach which will result in two-way trade and investment that will benefit both South Africa and its trading partners. The Managing Director of the Eastern Cape manufacturing company, AET Africa, Ms Sandiswa Qayi, says she will be travelling to Ghana with the aim of finding a market for her energy efficiency products. “My objective for going to Ghana is to secure a market there for our energy efficiency products as well as possible investments and strategic partnerships to penetrate the Ghanaian market. We have learnt that Ghana is also looking for energy efficiency products and the two inventions that we are taking to Ghana are suitable for the African market,” says Qayi. The Marketing Manager of a Western Cape-based wine company, La RicMal, Mr Malcolm Green says his goal for travel to Ghana is two-fold as he will be searching for both trade and investment opportunities. “We want to get our wines onto the shelves of as many Ghanaian retail outlets as possible. We are positive that we will find a distributor who will assist us realise our objective during the trip, or get a significant order or two. But we also plan to invest in the Ghanaian economy by establishing a partnership or joint venture and set up a bottling plant there. We are looking at exporting bulk wines to Ghana, and bottling the wine in that country,” says Green. The Vice Chairperson of the South African Footwear and Leathers Export Council, Mr Tavonga Gonyora is also positive that he will be able to assist the South African footwear manufacturers penetrate the Ghanaian market. “We want to facilitate partnerships amongst businesspeople from the two countries in order to create mutually beneficial value-chains where we will provide our products to the Ghanaian entities to distribute, and they generate revenue through the distribution of our products,” says Gonyora. The Chief Executive Officer of Electro, Mr Sydney Mabalayo, says he is also optimistic that he will find an export market for the transformers and mini substations that the Cape Town-based company manufactures. Trade between South Africa and Ghana increased considerably from almost R4 billion in 2014 to R13 billion in 2018. South Africa exported R4.4 billion worth of goods to Ghana in 2018 while imports were valued at R8.7 billion. Enquiries: |
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