Foreign entrepreneurs are not better than us – Ibrahim Mahama

No entrepreneur outside the shores of Ghana is any cleverer than those in the country, trying in their various fields to make it in the business world, Businessman, Ibrahim Mahama has said. The support they receive from their country according to him is the backing force behind their successes.

The Chief Executive Officer of construction firm Engineers and Planners Company Limited explained that most Ghanaian businesses are unable to fully flourish because of how unsupportive most local banks in the country are and how politics in the country to a large extent is used as a ‘pull him down’ tool on every successful business trying to make it.

“I am competing against a Nigerian business company, the Nigerian business man has told all the Nigerian banks not to help you because they want to support the Nigerian. Big Nigerian business men are not clever than we Ghanaians. The laws of Nigeria helps Nigerian business men. We Ghanaians don’t help our business men, we rather bring them down for the sake of politics,” he noted.

The business tycoon speaking on the theme; “The role of entrepreneurs in reducing unemployment and achieving the sustainable development goals” at the 2018 GRASSAG Entrepreneurship Seminar in Accra, added that some state institutions built to aid young and budding entrepreneurs grow, do not have laws that adequately function resulting in a situation where some start-ups are left high and dry.

“Yes, state institutions are supposed to help, but unfortunately our laws don’t work. If the laws worked, so many Ghanaians would be in business now. You need to put what you learn here into practice out there. You cannot afford to depend on people, stay focused, be honest and work hard,” he said.

Mr. Mahama who is also the brother of former president John Dramani Mahama, speaking from experience, shared how challenging it was for his business enterprise to grow during his brother’s reign as everything he did was politicized and sometimes sabotaged by opposing bodies.

“My brother was president and I couldn’t build a cement plant, I borrowed money from local banks, government banks which were built for development are not interested in development that is why I get so passionate when I talk like this. Nkrumah built that bank as a development bank and yet they will never help you, that is why most of the international companies will do better than the Ghanaian companies,” he mentioned.