SA's direct investment in Ghana reaches high

Apart from Muslim nations, Ghana has the lowest per capita consumption of beer on the continent, yet its brewery industry is one of the most competitive: it has four major breweries producing a variety of beers.

The past few years have seen considerable foreign direct investment in the beer market. SA Breweries, which acquired 69% in Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) in 1998, has been among latest entrants.

ABL MD Raymond Stark says any investor targeting west Africa, especially the Anglophone countries, should be in Ghana. This is more true now because of political stability in the face of political turmoil in neighbouring C?te d'Ivoire.

After years of Jerry Rawlings' rule, Ghana has witnessed a successful change in government from Rawling's National Democratic Congress to the New Patriotic Party of John Kufuor.

Apart from being sold in the Ghanaian market, SAB is also eyeing the broader sub-region. It has now applied for an Ecowas (Economic Community of West African States) certificate.

This document will grant SAB's products preferential access to the Ecowas region. It will also enable the group to do business elsewhere in the region.

Though ABL is worried about the delay in issuing it with the Ecowas certificate, Stark still thinks there is hope.

SAB is just one of a growing number of post-apartheid SA firms that are setting up base in Ghana.

Though the total Ghanaian market share held by SA firms is unclear the figures are still being compiled by the SA embassy here SA investments in Ghana have grown steadily in the past four years, making it necessary to form the Ghana-SA Chamber of Commerce, says an SA diplomat.

The chamber was inaugurated last October by President Thabo Mbeki during a state visit.

Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's deputy, was in Ghana last month to attend Kufuor's presidential inauguration to build up on the momentum of thawing bilateral relations.

Kwasi Ahwoi, CE of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, says that just by counting, SA is the largest African investor in Ghana. A contact list provided by the SA embassy shows about 30 SA companies registered here.

FK Frempong, the chamber's president, says SA capital is invested largely in brewery, mining, media, information technology, banking, hospitality industries and the beverages industry, including fruit juices and wines.

Last year alone, the Ghanaian market welcomed such big names as Stanbic Bank; Steers, which has introduced the first drive-through service here; Orbicom plc, whose local partners hope to bring new meaning to the use of electronic debit card; and Shoprites & Checkers, which are currently building a shopping mall.

The arrival of SA capital has significantly shored up competition and widened consumers' choices. The beer drinker, for example, now has Castle milk stout and canned Club beer, which was available only in bottles before SAB took over ABL.

In the media industry, until Multichoice and M-Net came onto the scene, Ghanaians had to make do with only the national TV station, GTV. In addition, a new kind of outdoor advertising has been introduced recently thanks to Media Cops, an SA firm.

Bilateral trade has increased from a ratio of four to one, three years ago, to 20 to one in favour of SA, according to Frempong.

The chamber is seeking in part to reduce this imbalance. Still, Frempong says, it is better to import from SA because "it is cheaper and accessible by sea and by air" compared with Asian countries, the main sources of Ghana's imports.

He says although it is not very obvious for the ordinary Ghanaian, the effect SA firms are having is very significant.