No African country has a global brand - Essuman

Kumasi, May 05, GNA - Mr Kofi Essuman, President of the Institute of Packaging, Ghana, has noted that no African country including Ghana has been able to establish a global brand.

Speaking at the three-day maiden packaging exhibition of the Department of Communication Design of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, he said many factors accounted for this including standard packaging.

He said the field of packaging combined science, engineering, technology, fine art and business studies to achieve its objectives therefore; KNUST with facets in these areas was well placed to establish a multi-disciplinary department for packaging.

Mr Essuman, who presented "Cape Pack" packaging design software on behalf of the Institute to the Department, said the Institute was pleased to associate itself with the dream of the Department to establish a packaging institution.

He said the Institute presented packages designed by students of the Department to the first World Students Packaging contest in Dubai last year.

The President announced that the Institute was in touch with the International Trades Corporation (ITC) to develop a packaging curriculum suitable for developing countries. "This can be made available to the new packaging department when completed," he said.

Mr Essuman pointed out that structural designing for packaging was not well developed and constituted one of the weakest links in the packaging sub-sector in Ghana.

In recent years, he said, the manufacturing sector had been experiencing significant growth due to fiscal, economic and political stability, increased exports arising from new international trade initiatives.

Mr Jebuna W. Awuku Appiah, Head of Department of Communication Design, said five students from the Department won two gold and three medals at the Accra Afrik'Embal International Packaging Exhibition held in May last year. "Four out of the five won awards at the Dubai 2005 World Students' Star Packaging Exhibition," he added.