AGI urges industries to focus on education, training of workforce

Tsonam Cleanse Akpeloo, the Accra Regional Chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries, has urged Ghanaian industries to open avenues for education, training, and skills development for the workforce.

He said manufacturers that focused on workforce strategy, engaged in upskilling and adopted appropriate digital technologies would not only survive but flourish.

“As industries worldwide increasingly prioritize workforce development, we must follow suit. Ghanaian industries need to open avenues for education, training, and skills development,” Mr Akpeloo said at the Greater Accra Region Annual General Meeting of the Association of Ghana Industries.

The AGM was on the theme: “Empowering Growth, Building a Strong Workforce for Tomorrow.”

Mr Akpeloo said it was the industry’s collective responsibility to equip the workforce with the skills and tools necessary to thrive in the evolving landscape.

“Our commitment to workforce development is paramount. As industries evolve, so too must our workforce. Comprehensive training programmes that align with market demands will ensure our employees possess the skills needed for both today and tomorrow,” he said.

He said collaboration with educational institutions, government bodies, and vocational training centres would help bridge the gap between education and industry, fostering a workforce that was not just skilled but also adaptable and innovative.

In this direction, he said the AGI was partnering with the Ghana Enterprises Agency, Mastercard Foundation, and Generations to organize a job fair aimed at showcasing employment opportunities and connecting job seekers with member companies.

Additionally, the AGI has launched a programme to allow members to visit industrial sites to enhance their understanding of the various sectors.

Other programmes include the Visiting Embassies Entrepreneurship and Networking Event, which brings embassies and foreign missions to engage industries, and it is designed to be the biggest networking event in Ghana as well as the Entrepreneurship Knowledge Forum, a quarterly programme designed to meet the capacity building objectives of the AGI.

“It is a knowledge-building platform that brings the most seasoned and successful business, organizational development and entrepreneurship aspects, research teams and business think tanks to share knowledge, ideas, innovations, concepts and principles essential to propel our business and organization to high heights,” Mr Akpeloo said.We search for seasoned industrial experts to share valuable information on different topics.

Also, the AGI Industrial Familiarization Forum specifically designed for Accra executives and self-selected members to visit self-selected companies within the Accra region as part of efforts to connect with members to serve them better.

He urged the AGI members to actively participate in programmes.

He said there were plans to expand the AGI Industrial Familiarization Tour to visit more organizations and companies, not only the large companies but also the small companies.

“And we all have to understand that we are in this journey together. So there is always wisdom in coming together to do together. And if we as industrialists put our strength together, you realize that we can really build our industry,” he said.

Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, CEO of AGI, urged the members to embrace sustainability in their production processes so the businesses would continue to thrive.

“The whole idea is that whilst we are doing business, we are generating resources, we are making profits, we should do it in a sustainable way that will ensure that our businesses will continue to thrive in spite of all the challenges that we face and therefore we must live in harmony with the environment, we must live in harmony with the community and we must have an arrangement that helps our own people and the jobs we create to be sustainable.”

He said the issues of sustainability had become very critical in the development discourse and companies not operating sustainably would find it difficult to even export because the European Union and other trading blocs were coming out with regulations that required following a certain principle and practice otherwise you cannot do serious business with them.

He said the Association continued to advocate for a good business environment for members and was constantly engaging policymakers, various government institutions and implementers of various programmes by the government to ensure that the activities bring benefits and create a conducive environment for businesses to operate.

Michael Ekow Amoah, Deputy Director, Research and Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Ghana Cocoa Board, took members through the European Union Deforestation Regulation to enable them to prepare to meet that market requirement.

He said a key element of the EU Green Deal was a set of policies or initiatives aimed at reducing the EU footprints and global carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 when compared to 1990 levels and becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050.

“So EUDR itself a set of market requirements. That’s why it is so important to you because if you enter into the EU market, you definitely must understand and put in measures to meet it. So, it’s a set of markets and requirements that is using responsible consumption on the part of EU to influence carbon emission or EU contribution to global warming or global carbon emissions.”