Need to build a strong private sector advocated - Asare Akuffo

Accra, Aug. 12, GNA - Mr Asare Akuffo, President of Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) Governing Council, has stressed the need to build a strong and confident private sector that would march side by side with Government to chart a competitive path for micro, small and large businesses in Ghana.

He said a major part of PEF's new three-year strategic plan was to organise the private sector into a respected sector to meet the high expectations of government and people of Ghana.

Mr Akuffo, who is also the Managing Director of HFC Bank (Ghana), made the call at a soiree with industry leaders of the telecom sector in Accra on Thursday.

He noted that by forming a strong business association, the sector could assist government to understand them better, to bridge the knowledge gap of members and to encourage government to take the tough decisions needed to create a truly competitive business environment in Ghana.

Mr Akuffo explained that the soiree was to organise stakeholders in the telecom industry, an important and crucial sector of the economy, into a strong association that would effectively champion the interests of its members and positively influence government policy.

"It has been acknowledged that businesses could compete and co-operate at the same time. That is in their interest to do so, 93he added.

Mr Akuffo pointed out that there was a telecom war on-going in the country, through aggressive advertising, sales promotions and price undercutting.

He called on managements of the telecom companies to come together to draw up their own rules of competition and take a well deserved seat on the Governing Council of PEF to contribute their quota to the effort to build a confident and globally competitive private sector in Ghana.

Mr Akuffo said the contribution of telecom companies to the economic growth of the country must be fully appreciated by government and this appreciation could only be achieved through a 93close and active business partnership".

Nana Owusu Afari, President of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), stressed the need for all industry groups to come together and pointed out that operators in the telecom sector were not united.

He advised all stakeholders in the sector to unite and come together to form a Telecom Chamber to have a united voice to champion their cause.

Nana Afari asked them to disabuse their minds of the notion that when they came together, their competitors would 91pirate' their strategies, innovations and other aspects of their operations.