Political interference stifling business growth – Chinery-Hesse

Mr Herman Chinery-Hesse has called on politicians and government officials to desist from overly interfering in the activities of players in the nation’s industrial sector.

“In most cases the politicians are competing with the businessmen in the country because they ‘politicians’ have the money.

What we fear as businessmen is that, if we come up with an idea and it has anything to do with the public sector, one of the fears I have is that if you go and tell the public sector, the next thing you know, a law has been passed stopping you from doing what you are going to do” he said.

Speaking on the Citi Business Edition, Mr Chinery-Hesse indicated that though most business men were willing to work with the politicians, the threat of politicians attempting to take over their business kept them at bay.

“We need stability at the top so that we can soar, but if we don’t generate our local industries we will continue to be slaves” he indicated.

Mr Chinery-Hesse further noted that: “We should not look down on raw material-led growth, don’t forget that Africa’s raw materials developed Africa. When these raw materials are managed well they can be converted into the industrialization” he added.

According to him, raw materials or resources are vital in the development of any country but because we are not managing our resources well we are not benefitting from the profits that come from the resources.

Mr Chinery-Hesse is a Global technology entrepreneur and co-founder of SOFTtribe limited, one of West Africa’s leading software houses.