GIZ and GIPC sign MoU to promote job creation

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and German Cooperation have signed a financing agreement to mobilise investments and promote job-creation by enterprises.

The 762,300 Euro Project, dubbed: "Invest for Jobs," is an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The cooperation between the two parties will address investment promotion challenges reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic to help maintain and create new jobs in Ghana.

The Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation, the official title of Invest for Jobs, is implemented by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ).

With a decline in foreign direct investment around the world, partly because of the Coronavirus pandemic, it has become imperative for governments to maximize developmental support to retain investment, encourage follow-on investment and achieve greater local economic impact.

Investment promotion agencies in most countries are now focusing primarily on keeping investors in the country and strengthening their resilience.

Mr Yofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, said the pandemic had made aftercare of investors particularly important and, therefore, the cooperation between the GIPC and the German Cooperation through Invest for Jobs would facilitate the provision of information to investors, and support to relevant companies to address investment barriers.

He said it was to strengthen the capacity of the Centre to support investors.

Mr Grant said it had come at a time when there were a lot of challenges at the business front with the outbreak of the disease.

He said the Centre would continue to work very hard to make sure Ghana remained the most attractive investment destination in Africa.

“This joint effort comes at a crucial time for Ghana in the global context, where governments are designing more strategic and innovative ways to promote investment and boost economic growth,” he said.

Ms Dorothee Dinkelaker, the Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy, said the amount would be invested to promote and maintain sustainable investments of European, German and African subsidiaries in Ghana to preserve and create direct and indirect jobs.

She said they would support investors to mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19 by providing digital and demand-driven advisory services for European and other investors to continue investment processes despite global restrictions.

"In turn, 20 directly supported companies benefiting from specific investment promotion services will contribute to the creation of 360 new jobs" she added.

Ms Dinkelaker said that would be in tandem with the setup of a digital matchmaking platform to connect international investors to local businesses.

"In terms of investors aftercare we will support the introduction of a new Customer Relationship Management system," she said.

Ms Dinkelaker said 20 interested companies would also be offered a business continuity management training to strengthen their resilience to crisis to avoid redundancies of 200 employees.

A further focus of the cooperation between the two parties includes supporting potential investors who, due to COVID-19 restrictions, are unable to travel to Ghana to obtain relevant information.