Former Presby Moderator raises $76,000 in New York church

Former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, The Very Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso has admonished Christians to avail and commit themselves to God's command of spreading the ‘Good News’ to all nations.

He says the world is full of perishing souls, some of who have had "their freedoms trampled upon by the minority few, but wealthy ungodly class" and that these souls "are calling for liberation and freedom which only God can give through His faithful ones answering His call".

Rev. Frimpong-Manso, who is now the resident pastor of the Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church (EPRC) in the Bronx, New York, made the call during the church's annual harvest held at the Woodlawn and Ogden branches.

Whilst tasking Christians to promote God’s kingdom on earth, Rev. Frimpong-Manso called on the congregation to give generously to support the Church's missions.

He decried the tendency for some Christians to expect from God without giving back to support His work.

The harvest raised $20,000 at the Woodlawn branch and a further $56,000 at the Ogden branch.

"We raised $20,000 at Woodlawn this year as against $11,000 last year and about $56,000 at Ogden as against $29,000 last year" Rev. Frimpong-Manso said. He expressed gratitude to special guests, some of who arrived from Ghana.

The church plans to renovation of the Woodlawn Sanctuary and acquire a new place of worship for the Ogden congregation.

The EPRC was formed in 1998 by some members of the then Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Harlem and has grown from meeting in the house of one of the progenitors to become a thriving mission with several hundreds of members.

The church received a major boost in June this year with the appointment of one of its members, Dr. David Ofori Jnr. as the first African moderator of the New York Presbytery as well as the arrival of Rev. Dr. Frimpong-Manso to head the church.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Multimedia radio stations hold unity events to energize Kumasi

Life is bouncing back in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, after the city went dead on the day of Ghana’s Supreme Court election petition ruling.

To stimulate the peace, unity and consensus building atmosphere in the Garden City, stations under the stables of the Multimedia Group – Luv Fm and Nhyira Fm – have lined up series of outdoor events this weekend to excite the populace.

Beginning Friday night, Luv Sports, in collaboration with mobile telecom provider, Tigo is mounting a giant screen at the Baba Yara Stadium for soccer enthusiasts to enjoy the 38^th Edition of the UEFA Super Cup clash that will see a renewal of the Jose Mourinho – Pep Guardiola rivalry as the two managers seek their first major trophy at their new clubs.

Fans are already ecstatic to watch how Bayern would avenge the painful defeat inflicted on them by Chelsea in the finals of the Champions League two years ago; but the Blues are bent on completing a treble of European titles – Chelsea won the Champions League and Europa Cup in the last two years.

On Saturday, hundreds of personnel from corporate establishments are expected to turn up to partake in the regular Luv Fm Fitness Walk, which has become the major platform for staff of corporate institutions and the sporting populace in Kumasi to exercise, socialize and network for enhanced productivity.

Participants walk several kilometers as they adopt diverse strategies to get to the finished line. The hot kenkey party and the aerobic session which begins and climaxes the fitness walk are perhaps the most exciting aspects of this health package.

The health walk is part of Luv Fm’s health package to support the physical and mental well-being of staff from participating institutions.

Nhyira Fm is also collaborating with the Zongo Youth Association for an event dubbed ‘Salafest’, which will round off the Eid-ul Fitr celebration which marks the end of Ramadan fasting.

It brings affiliate tribes and their heads to showcase their rich culture as a way of promoting harmony and co-operation.

Activities for the event begin with clean-up on Friday, donation to charity with durbar as the climax to be graced by President Mahama and the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Jim Aglah, Business Development Manager at Multimedia Group Kumasi, says the station is committed to adding value to people’s lives, emphasizing that the country needs to celebrate its peace coexistence.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Clay promoted as climate-conscious construction material

Ghana can preserve its limestone deposits by depending on the abundance of clay to serve the country’s construction needs, says Engineer Mark Bediako.

The research scientist foresees dependence on clay as an industrial mineral resource in the near future.

Limestone is a major ingredient in the production of cement, which is a critical component in Ghana’s building and construction industry.

Upscale of local production of cement has been impeded by limited mining and exploration of limestone deposits.

“In sustainability, you really have to look at materials that are in abundance to compensate materials that are in less quantity. So with clay being in abundance we can be in the context of sustainability”, said Mr. Bediako.

Available records indicate that clay can be mined in all the regions of Ghana – which makes the product suitable raw material base for the ceramic and building industries.

Clay is a major raw material in the manufacturing of pozzolana, a cement complement product developed by local researchers at the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Mr. Bediako, who works at the BRRI, cited pozzolana as an environmentally beneficial energy-intensive material in mitigating the effects of global warming.

“Research has proven that between 6-8 percent of the global warming gases released into the atmosphere comes from the cement industry because of the energy generated”, he observed. “Now if you really want to cut down on the carbon dioxide emission in the context of think global, act local, you need to bring in a material that can cut down the emission by almost half; that one can be achieved with the production of pozzolana”.

 

Mixing pozzolana with clinker cement produces cost-effective mortar and concrete.

The Pozzolana Ghana Limited currently has a daily production of 5,000 bags at its Gomoa Mprumem commercial plant, whilst the BRRI plant in Kumasi bags 200 per day.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Agricultural research in Ghana boosted with ultramodern biotech lab

Scientists in Ghana have access to an ultra-modern biotechnology laboratory to do their tissue-culturing and other advanced cell biology techniques in agricultural research.

The completion of the $1.8million biotech complex in Kumasi is a major leap in the sustainable management of genetic resources for agricultural production.

The facility will facilitate the generation and dissemination of new technologies to farmers, processors and other end-users.

The project is an offshoot of the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), a World Bank funded-project, being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Director of the CRI-CSIR, Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, says the facility will become fully operational upon commissioning by the President.

According to him, it will serve as the West African sub-region hub as far as roots and tuber research is concerned.

Under the WAAPP, the CRI is a centre of specialization for root and tuber crops, including cassava, sweet potato, cocoyam and yam.

Biotechnology techniques have served as efficient tools for enhanced agricultural production in developed countries. They are essential for preparing clean planting materials with high crop yield for distribution to farmers.

It has been reported, for instance, that the use of clean planting materials can lead to about 30% increase in sweet potato tubers.

The WAAPP, since take off in 2008, has come up with some high yielding and disease-tolerant crop varieties.

The Programme is currently in its second phase of implementation.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

CSOs want climate justice prioritized under Post-2015 Development Agenda

Climate justice and sustainable management of the planet’s resources must be at the centre of the Post-2015 sustainable development framework, according to a declaration by the West African civil society organizations on climate change.

Developed countries are also being held to continue to commit and deliver on providing financial and technological resources to address mitigation and adaptation challenges in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

CSO representatives from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mauritania convened at the West Africa regional civil society capacity building workshop on Climate Change and Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda in Lome, Togo.

The Post-2015 Development Agenda is the future global development framework to succeed the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals which ends in 2015.

The impacts of climate change continue to exert great economic, social, political and cultural pressures on households, working families, the poor, rural and urban dwellers. These pressures have a combined effect of reducing opportunities and potentials for attaining progress and prosperity in communities.

The civil society groups emphasized the need for Africa to begin to focus on generating its own funds in order to finance climate change programs and activities, whilst CSOs increased efforts to monitor and track climate change budget provisions and performance.

“West African CSOs should continue to engage their governments to find alternatives to financing climate change such as the adoption of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and taxes on luxury imported goods and services”, said a Statement issued at the end of the meeting.

They also called for the promotion of women’s rights, gender equality and the empowerment of youth and vulnerable groups must be given top priority.

“We take advantage of the strengths and opportunities in new and emerging social media, to mobilize our people in both rural and urban areas, including the youth, women, artisans, in order to address climate change challenges affecting our people”.

It was also declared that African CSOs in collaboration with other members of the global climate justice movement work to intensify campaigns and research in order to strengthen international coordinated action on climate change.

The Lome meeting was organized by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), in collaboration with the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA).

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Mineworkers accuse Israeli company of flouting Ghana’s labour law

The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) has accused an Israeli mining contracting firm, Pollution to Water (P2W), of flouting the country’s labour laws with impunity.

A statement by Eric K. Gyima, Deputy General Secretary of the Union, says the company has for a year now resisted attempts by its workers to unionise in line with provisions of the Labour Act 2003(Act 651).

“Workers of P2W have used legitimate means to unionise, but the management of that company has persistently and arrogantly put impediments in the efforts of the workers to exercise their fundamental right to unionize”, it said.

The company employs a technology that treats polluted water and recycles it back to the mines for mining operations. It currently has offices in Obuasi, Tarkwa and Bogoso.

“While the GMWU lauds P2W for introducing such an important technology into the mining sector, it does not mean that the management should disregard the country’s labour law which seeks to ensure that there is industrial harmony”, said the Union.

Mr. Gyima tells Luv News some workers have lost their jobs unfairly.

The GMWU is demanding that the relevant state institutions, including the Chief Labour Officer, the National Labour Commission and the National Security Council, to take decisive action in enforcing the provision of the labour law especially, those relating to unionization by Ghanaian workers particularly in the mining sector.

“The GMWU would like to indicate that the anti-union posture by the management of P2W has the potential to degenerate into an unpleasant labour agitation by the workers. This obviously will not auger well for an otherwise harmonious and stable industrial relations in the mining sector”.

The Union has indicated its readiness “to employ and deploy every means available including strikes actions to compel the company to respect the workers fundamental right to unionise”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghanaian scientists anxious of Plant Breeders Rights’ bill passage

Researchers at Ghana’s Crops Research Institute (CRI) have over the years developed and released over 100 improved crop varieties and production technologies for adoption by farmers and other end-users.

The food and industrial crops cover cereals (maize and rice); legumes and oil seeds (cowpea, soybean and groundnut); roots and tubers (cassava, sweet potato, yam and cocoyam).

Other Institutes under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the general Ghanaian scientific community have also developed diverse genetic materials and technologies.

The scientists are however seeking a strong legal framework to protect their intellectual property.

“Before we develop any technology, we invest so much intellectual resources, but at the moment nobody looks at that aspect”, says Dr. Stephen Amoah, research scientist in breeding and molecular biology.

 

According to him, researchers need to be protected against the physical multiplication of genetic plants without recourse to “the person who sat down to do the crosses, the biology and the genetics”.

Most biological materials developed in Ghana presently do not fit appropriately under the existing intellectual property rights – including the Patents, Trade Marks, Designs and Copyright.

Ghana’s parliament is presenting considering a bill on Plant Breeders Rights, which will allow commercial end-users of research products to pay royalties to the scientists and their institutions.

The Act will grant ownership and protection to plant breeders who have developed varieties and for related matter.

 

Director of the Crop Research Institute, Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah says “hitherto the materials we’ve been releasing are just for free; Obaatanpa [maize variety], for instance, has been cultivated in about 18 countries and we never took any money from them because there is no law”.

He is confident the bill will be passed this year “to enable us to obtain royalty from every material. So we’ll sign MoUs with some of these seed companies and that will bring in money to enable research become sustainable”, Dr. Adu-Dapaah noted.

The researchers expect government will put in place structures to support implementation of the bill when passed.

“It’s a way of motivating the scientists and creating competition among the institutions and also the scientists and that is one way of improving the quality of research”, stated Dr. Amoah.

 

The PBR allows the breeder to choose to become the exclusive marketer of the variety, or to license the variety to others.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Building green affordable houses in Ghana

The first batch of 50 trainees has passed out of the National Artisan Training Centre in Kumasi.

The training is aimed at upgrading the skills of local artisans in the use of bricks, compressed earth blocks and other indigenous building materials for construction.

Through the support of the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, about 150 to 250 artisans are expected to be trained annually.

“The primary aim is to train as many artisans as possible because we believe with the high price of imported building materials, this country will go back and use the earth and bricks for construction”, observed Dr. Eugene Atiamo, Director of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Expensive concrete and glass houses are in vogue in major cities in Ghana, but the increasing housing deficit calls for innovations to build green and cheap.

Housing, the single largest subsector of the construction industry, is a major contributor to environmental pollution. With the high levels of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, the sector contributes to climate change.

According to Dr. Atiamo, Ghana has the potential to build environmentally sound houses.

The indoor environment of a building is supposed to provide comport for the occupant and this is what you get with earth blocks and burnt clay bricks, he said.

Heavy concrete and glass houses absorb and emit a lot of heat – this prompts the use of air-conditioners for heat resistance.

“The compressed earth blocks are durable in the prevention of erosion and wear offs; and can be fortified with grass husk, palm fibre or any straw to have a good material which can withstand the elements for the next 50-60 years”, he stated.

The building engineer believes there are good green materials for building foundation, walling and roofing construction project.

“One thing we should be looking at is the use of biomass – off-cuts from the sawmills, the sawdust and even the straw which we normally dump as waste; we can turn them into chip boards and light weight materials for partitioning to reduce the cost of housing construction”, Dr. Atiamo said.

Ghana’s Venture Capital Trust Fund presently offers support to real estate developers who build socially and environmentally responsible homes.

“The total Fund size is almost $20million; they can apply and start simple real estate for low-cost housing”, Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Duku, encouraged investors to source the fund.

 

For green technology to be adopted in poorer nations and to have scalable impacts, it has to be low cost and affordable, according to the World Bank Group.

“Green housing needs to appeal to a much wider audience. It must be viewed as a socially responsible and commercially viable proposition for the common builder and developer, and an economically and socially viable proposition for the average buyer”.

In developed economies, “green” often entails heavy additional costs, but a large part of the existing green technology in emerging economies like Ghana is low cost.

Unfortunately, there are very few production units for earth and brick clay materials in Ghana, due to lack of market. There is also lack of standard specifications to make local building materials attractive for the built environment.

Ghana’s policy direction is to have about 60percent of local materials in the construction of every public infrastructure by 2015.

Dr. Atiamo notes that government’s commitment would ensure the target is achieved. “Even if we cannot do 60 percent, at least there should be a legal backing which will push government agencies to use 20-30percent to encourage business investments in local building material production”.

The national housing deficit is presently estimated to be over 1,500,000 units, whilst government spends about $250million annually to import construction materials.

Sustainable green solutions with local building materials could afford the average Ghanaian access to lower-income housing whilst safeguarding the environment.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Ghana model car goes through first testing in Holland

The prototype Ghanaian model vehicle designed and manufactured by the artisans of Suame Magazine in Kumasi has been successfully tested in Rotterdam, Holland under the auspices of the Dutch Government.

A comprehensive engineering report on the vehicle has been presented to project partners for the next phase of the project. 

The car named ‘SMATI TURTLE 1’ was built earlier this year through a partnership initiative between the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO) and Dutch-based Aardschap Foundation.

The car was shipped to Holland last April for international exhibition and promotion to attract investors for large scale commercial production to serve the African market.

The Dutch Government committed to absorb the cost of testing the roadworthiness of the SMATI Turtle 1 prototype vehicle in the Netherlands.

According to the Dutch counterpart team leader, Melle Smets, the inspectors were very impressed with the rare engineering ingenuity exhibited by the artisans in the creation of this unique car model.

“They wondered how such a rare engineering height could be achieved in the design and construction of the vehicle without any sophisticated manufacturing machinery within a  very limited time of two and half months”, he stated. 

“There was a general acknowledgement that given the conditions under which the car was manufactured, it is a major boost to the creation of an African automobile brand”.

Consultant to SMIDO, Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, says snippets of the inspectors’ report identified 40 areas for further design and engineering improvements for the SMATI Turtle to go through the next stage of testing. 

The inspectors however captured in the report that “it would be very difficult for the SMATI Turtle to be completely cleared of all regulations to be permitted on public roads of Europe. This conclusion is not surprising as many newly built cars are not allowed on the roads in one go because of the high safety standards”.

 

Meanwhile, the Dutch media has drawn out an elaborate programme to celebrate the Ghanaian car model manufactured with simple local tools from a cluster of engineering workshops in Suame Magazine.

“The Dutch media is planning a media road show to celebrate Suame Magazine and SMATI TURTLE as the twin-brand of African technological ingenuity which requires recognition and global attention to tap the root of African technological ingenuity”, said Azongo.

The SMATI Turtle Car will be showcased in between September and October 2013. A book authored by a seasoned Dutch journalist, titled:  ‘SMATI Turtle 1, The Car from Africa’ would be launched as part of the media road show.

There will also be radio broadcast and newspaper articles in major newspapers in the Netherlands about the project. 

The climax of the media promotion would end in October where the car will feature prominently in a big festival, IMPAKT in Utrecht with photo exhibition, test drives with public and presentations.

SMATI is the acronym for the Suame Magazine Automatics Technical Institute, a model institutional engineering training centre for the artisans.

The turtle is a robust reptile and an amphibian which symbolizes strength and the ability to withstand any terrain and particularly, the African terrain.

The doors of the SMATI Turtle can be opened from all the four corners of the vehicle and purposefully built for farming and police patrol purposes.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Breast Care International initiates program to support cancer patients

Breast Care International (BCI) Ghana is spearheading an initiative to improve the high percentage of breast cancer patients defaulting treatment at the hospitals.

The ‘Peer-Nurse Navigation Program’ uses a combination of cancer survivors and oncology nurses to guide newly diagnosed patients to achieve quality health outcomes.

President of BCI-Ghana, Dr. Beatrice Waife Addai tells Luv News the project is based on what she terms as the principle of HOPE – Helping Others through Personal Experiences (HOPE).

“We realized that there is a very big gap between what happens to a patient when he or she is diagnosed with cancer and what happens in the hospital; so what we are getting is a lot of people defaulting treatment because the person is diagnosed in the hospital, he or she goes home and there is no follow up”, she observed.

A training session for voluntary nurses and breast cancer survivors is underway at the Peace and Love Hospital in Kumasi. Participants are being equipped with appropriate skills to assist newly diagnosed cancer patients to access support and resource to cope with their disease.

Breast cancer is the leading malignancy among women with about 60 percent reporting late. This leads to physical, psychological, socio-cultural and financial challenges in the diagnosis and treatment process.

Dr. Wiafe Addai says the success of the Ashanti regional pilot will inform an African-wide roll-out of the project.

“It’s not needed in Ghana but the whole of Africa because we don’t have such support systems anywhere”, she stated. “When you go to the developed world, they have support systems [but] we don’t have that in our country and we believe that is the reason why about 70 percent of our women are running away from the hospital because of mastectomy”.

The program is in collaboration with Carrie’s TOUCH, a US-based non-profit organization.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Minister engages scientists on commercialization of research products

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation has intensified engagements with institutes under Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to push the agenda of commercializing research products.

Sector Minister, Dr. Oteng Adjei, says the 13 research institutes have the potential to be financially independent whilst supporting economic growth by putting commercial value to the output of research activities.

“We looking forward to them adding value to the raw material which will allow us to have food security and also be able to get money expand and also be able to make the scientists feel very comfortable”, he told Luv Biz Report during a working visit CSIR-Crops Research Institute in Kumasi.

The CRI has over the years developed new technologies and come out with improved crop varieties with high economic benefits for the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.

Director of the Institute, Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, has emphasized the importance of activating linkages between researchers, agriculturists and industrialists for the country to benefit from research products.

Inadequate funding for research however remains a challenge to the CRI, he said.

Dr. Adjei acknowledged the constraint but says “the President has given us a line as to how legally we can give them a constant flow of income – at least it should be about one percent of GDP”.

He says the Ministry is also committed to supporting the Institute and others under the CSIR to efficiently communicate and commercialize research products to help create jobs and increase the country’s food export earnings.

An agricultural economist with the CRI, Jonas Osei-Adu believes a team with commercial skills would need to be put in place to advance the cause.

“We already have the technology; let’s find a very simple setting like a technology center, a one-stop shop whereby people can come in and access our technology. That will be the starting poring for our commercialization drive”, he observed.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Farmers record 200% yield increase under crop-small ruminant project

Some Ghanaian farmers are recording 50-200 percent increase in crop yield under an innovative project that integrates crop and small ruminants for sustainable production.

The management techniques for sheep and goat integration in crop production have also impacted significantly in livestock production.

Researchers introduced the farmers to improved crop varieties and exposed them to good agronomic practices and “at the end of the day the improved agronomic practices plus improved varieties led to as much as 200 percent yield increase”, says Dr. Stephen Amoah of Ghana’s Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The CSIR-CRI is coordinating the project dubbed ‘Sustainable Intensification of Integrated Crop-Small Ruminant Production Systems in West Africa’. The two-year project, implemented in Benin, Ghana, Mali and The Gambia, is sponsored by Australian Aid (AusAID), with technical support from CORAF/WECARD.

Also on the innovative platform are other actors in the agricultural value-chain, including tractor operators, agro-input dealers and credit providers.

Rita Narh, a beneficiary farmer in the Atebubu-Amantin Municipality of the Brong Ahafo region, was introduced to higher yielding dual-purpose legumes for human consumption as well as fodder for her livestock.

Today, she is excited at the intervention as she harvests a bumper of maize.

“I have realized that what the researchers introduced is beneficial and can help me progress in my farming business. This [the improved variety] has helped me gain much than previous harvest”, she said.

Project Coordinator, Dr. Stella Ennin, is confident the project is key to increasing food security whilst improving farmers’ income levels – mainly targeting women.

“We are looking at legumes – cowpeas and groundnuts – as the main entry point to improve the productivity of the crop-sheep and goat system and we believe that this is a strategy that can quickly increase food security and also reduce poverty among our farmers”, she stated.

Dr. Ennin explains land resources are efficiently managed under the sustainable intensification of crop production.

“We look at integrated nutrient management and the integration involves the use of manure from the animals to also supplement the chemical fertilizer and when you have both the performance is better than either of them”, stated the Chief Research Scientist.

The farmers however complain the price of government’s subsidized fertilizer remain high and beyond their reach.

Dr. Ennin is hoping the challenge will be addressed for the farmers “to access the quantities of fertilizer that they need to give them the optimum yields that we are seeing today in our fields”.

The current phase of the integrated crop-small ruminant production project ends in December 2013.

Project coordinators anticipate a second phase for upscale across the country.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

New fund in the offing for agricultural financing in Ghana

The Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) has disclosed the setting up of an Agricultural Fund to be operational by end of this year.

Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Duku, tells Luv Biz Report the facility is tailored to finance agriculture related projects, from production to supply-chain and value addition.

Sustainable financing of agriculture investments constitutes a critical factor in enhancing operations of Ghanaian farmers. Smallholder farmers and other actors in the sector are constrained throughout the production, marketing and distribution stages of their operations.

There have been calls for government to incorporate farmers’ access to financial service into national policies.

Targeted financing, especially with the reformed Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) is a step to propel the growth of Ghana’s agriculture and food processing industry.

But such interventions have yet to rake in the desired impact.

Dr. Robert Kwabena Asubuah, a Director at the Grains and Legumes Development Board of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, says there are opportunities for the private sector in agricultural financing.

“Everybody always talks about government investing but right now the private sector has a big role to play to take up some of the agricultural investments that are now available for them to make all the money they want”, he stated.

He cites post harvest investment in agricultural products is a viable venture.

The VCTF has a mandate to provide low-cost long term financing to small and medium scale enterprises, including agriculture.

A Development Assistance Fund supports SMEs to the tune of Gh₵50,000 to improve their businesses.

CEO, Daniel Duku, says about 70 applications have been approved and supported. He however says applications for financing have been skewed towards investors in the Greater Accra Region.

He however expects investors in Ashanti region to take advantage of the VCTF’s office set up in Kumasi to explore opportunities, especially under the proposed agricultural fund.

Ashanti regional Chair of the Association of Ghana Industries, Robert Nketia, is cautiously optimistic of the Fund’s renewed drive to support agriculture.

“Most of the already existing investments went to other sectors, neglecting the agricultural and agro-processing. But they’ve now realized their mistake and now focusing on agriculture which will have an impact in creating employment and making it possible that the rural areas are also opened up”, he opined.

 

But he believes progress can be made only when there is demonstration of commitment to the cause.

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Ghana’s green economy to thrive with ‘Impact Investing’

The future of business investments in Ghana should move in the direction of ventures that add value to the local eco-system, says the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF).

The Fund is at the forefront of promoting ‘impact investing’, a concept that accommodate a strategy for creating positive social and environmental impact beyond financial return.

It challenges private investors and entrepreneurs to develop innovative businesses to deliver effective and lasting solutions. Focal areas include sustainable agriculture, education, healthcare, housing, water and sanitation and employment generation.

Percival Ofori Ampomah, Head of Fund Investments at the Venture Capital Trust Fund explains that impact investing is synonymous with social entrepreneurship, which is critical in building a green economy.

“The impact investing angle is actually looking at sustainable businesses and one of them is green economies; sustainable energy, resources, and sustainable funding for energy among others, so it’s an assets class that needs to be invested in if you want to build a proper green economy”, he told Luv Biz Report.

 

Mr. Amponsah enjoined financial service providers to positively screen business investments with viable social impact as conditions in advancing financing.

According to a research conducted by The Rockefeller Foundation and JP Morgan, the impact investment market offers the potential of $400billion to $1trillion over the next ten years. The value in Africa is estimated at $297 million.

This is the driving force behind the VCTF’s decision to promote impact investing in Ghana.

The Fund has been engaging investors and policy makers in Kumasi to discuss the concept of impact investing in Ghana. The objective is to facilitate private capital into businesses that can transform lives in Ghana.

 

Chief Executive Officer of the VCTF, Daniel Duku, says the Fund is continually combing the world for institutional investors to support its mandate of providing low-cost long term financing to small and medium scale enterprises.

The VCTF is collaborating with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to establish the Centre for Impact Investing later this month.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh