WestBlue CEO joins Bawumia as speakers at Ghana Economic Forum

Chief Executive Officer of WestBlue Consulting, technical partners of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Valentina Mintah is billed to join other dignitaries including the Vice President Dr. Mahamud Bawumia as a speaker at the 6th Ghana Economic Forum (GEF) scheduled for the 7th and 8th of August 2017 at the Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City in Accra.

Ms. Mintah will join a panel discussion on E-business as an integral tool for business growth in Ghana and on the continent of Africa.

The services sector, driven by the telecommunications, Information Communication Technology, banking and hospitality sub-sectors has outperformed many other sectors of the economy over the last half decade.

It is in the light of the foregoing that panellists at the E-business, an integral tool for business growth session of the Ghana Economic Forum 2017 will discuss how the country can transform its public service delivery using private sector led Information Communication Technology systems for the benefit of businesses.

Madam Mintah is expected to bring her experience and expertise working on Ghana’s National Single Window programme to bear and enrich the discussion on how the country and countries on the African continent can leverage technology for business growth.

WestBlue Consulting has been very instrumental in the implementation of the Ghana National Single Window Programme, serving as technical partners to the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

The introduction and implementation of the Single Window programme a little over two years ago have culminated in the increase in government revenue collection by the customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority by about 28.7 percent in 2016.

Since the introduction of the Ghana National Single Window’s Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS), traders are able to access within a few hours, Customs Classification and Valuation reports (CCVR’S) representing a very substantial and marked improvement from the previous years when it took traders more than a week or two to receive the Customs Classification and Valuation Reports.

The introduction and implementation of the system has brought several benefits to trade facilitation in the country including reduced time and cost of doing business, reduction of corruption at the ports as well as a high level of efficiency at the ports.

Through the system, Ghana moved an impressive 13 places up on the trading across borders league in the latest World Bank ease of doing business report.

Also, the doing business 2017 report christened: Equal Opportunity for all, showed that Ghana was placed 108 out of 190 countries surveyed in the overall ranking of ease of doing business, representing an improvement from 111 in the previous report. Ghana was ranked 10th in sub Saharan Africa.

Other speakers due to speak at the Ghana Economic Forum include Trade and Industry Minister, Allan Kyerematten, Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, Dr. KK Sarpong and Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Yoofi Grant among others. This year’s Ghana Economic Forum is under the theme: Building a Ghanaian Owned Economy, 60 years after independence.