To Ghana's Trade & Industry Ministerial Team

By Kofi Thompson

If Ghana's young and hard-working trade and industry ministerial team were to think outside the box - and in this particular instance, ignore the "hide-bound senior civil servants who advise our leaders, and many of whom secretly wish that the present regime fails", to quote an acquaintance of mine - they could revolutionalise Ghana's light industrial sector.

The garment industry has the potential to rapidly grow Ghana's light industrial sector's contribution to the country's GDP. It could also provide employment for many young people in Ghana.

On the basis that no foreign investor who visits our country can fail to be impressed by Ghana and its people, my humble suggestion to the ministerial team at the trade and industry ministry, is that they should invite Mr. William Fung, Mr. Victor Fung and Mr Bruce Rockowitz, of the Fung Group, to Ghana - and show them what the Ghana Free Zones Board has to offer investors in the garment industry.

The Fung Group could work with the government - which should rely on advice from the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) in this particular instance, instead of relying on the senior civil servants who usually advise them - to grow Ghana's garment industry, and turn it into a leading source of garments for retailers in the US and the EU.

There are other areas the Fung Group could be persuaded to invest in, if the ministerial team at the ministry of trade and industry and the Association of Ghana Industries were to invite Mr. William Fung, Mr. Victor Fung and Mr Bruce Rockowitz to visit Ghana.

The Fung Group, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, could help turn Ghana into a leading exporter of garments to the developed world. Perhaps Ghana's ambassador to China could be asked to extend the invitation to the Fung Group on the government's behalf. A word to the wise...

Tel: 027 745 3109.

Email: peakofi.thompson@gmail.com.