Government needs private sector participation to achieve accelerated growth - Mintah

To achieve the desired accelerated economic growth in Ghana, there is a need for true collaboration and partnerships among government institutions and businesses in the private sector, Ms. Valentina Mintah – Founder of West Blue Consulting – has said.

This, she said, will ensure that government provides the enabling legal and regulatory environment and support required for businesses to thrive.

Ms. Mintah made this known during a roundtable discussion at a recent EU-Ghana business forum held in Accra, on the theme ‘Boosting investments for sustainable jobs in Ghana’.

Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as well as the European Commission Vice-President, Jyrki Katainen, among other industry experts attended the event.

Speaking on the topic ‘The way forward: Establishing priorities for the political, institutional, regulatory and operational frameworks in order to boost investment for job creation in Ghana’, Ms. Mintah called for private sector participation with government.

The international IT Consultant mentioned some activities which are being pursued in Ghana to achieve success.

The activities she mentioned were identification of priority industries; setting a shared vision and creating awareness of the vision across business, government and the citizenry; business optimisation and re-engineering; ensuring a supportive legal and regulatory framework, by refining existing policies and creating others for emerging areas such as data ownership, cyber-crime etc.

The rest, she said, are co-creating the roadmap for implementation with roles and responsibilities defined and milestones and KPIs set; capacity building and change management; empowerment within both public and private sectors; and, ultimately, encouraging the needed political will.

“The continuous monitoring and evaluation of this framework will certainly set the pace for all parties – individually and collectively, locally and internationally – to realise the investment boom and job-creation so desired,” she said.

She cited government’s Digital Roadmap Programme and the Paperless Port Programme as some successful examples to the EU and Ghanaian businesses present at the conference.

EU advises government

The European Union (EU) Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment, and Competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen, in his remarks said governments have to provide the best framework possible for private enterprises to operate successfully.

“A favourable investment climate is essential for attracting direct investment and for the private sector to grow. While private enterprises must be responsible for their own success, it is still up to governments to provide the best framework possible for those enterprises to operate successfully,” he said.

Mr. Katainen lauded Ghana’s economic recovery, stating: “Today, the overall outlook for Ghana is optimistic. Ghana is regarded as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies, and the European Union is proud to accompany Ghana in its journey toward economic transformation and prosperity”.

Bawumia assures businesses

Vice-President Dr. Bawumia, in his speech, said government aims to strengthen the private sector as the engine of growth, with a view to making Ghanaian businesses productive and more competitive.

He assured the private sector that government is committed to advancing sustainable and inclusive growth, economic transformation and development by enhancing the business and investment climate, as well as by mobilising investments in the strategic areas of infrastructure, energy, digitisation, connectivity, transportation and agriculture.

He encouraged young entrepreneurs to be innovative in every avenue possible, stating: “Government is doing everything to support you in diverse ways to grow your businesses for the bigger markets”.