36 companies receive awards

December 1, 2008 Page 71
Story: Boahene Asamoah

Thirty-six companies and organisations have been awarded at the first Ghana Business and Financial Excellence Award for their contribution to the economy at a ceremony in Accra last Friday.
Ghana Cocoa Board won the ultimate award; a Platinum Award for its contribution to the lives of people and the company’s impact on the economy as a result of its activities.
Other companies which won awards were Agricare Ghana Limited, Alhaji I.D. Construction, Aluworks Limited, Amin Sankari Industries, Atwima-Kwanoma Rural Bank, Cadbury Ghana Limited, Cocoa Research Institute, Dizengoff Ghana Limited, De Paul Wood Treatment Limited, Enterprise Insurance Company, First Allied Savings Limited, Ghana Commercial Bank, GIHOC Distilleries, Global Haulage Ghana Limited, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited and the Ghana Stock Exchange.
Others were, Holy Trinity Medical Centre, Inter City STC Company Limited, Interplast Limited, Irani Brothers, K.I. Ghana Limited, Latex Foam, Mechanical Lloyd, Melcom Ghana Limited, National Lottery Authority (NLA), New Plan Ghana, P & W Ghana Ltd, Produce Buying Company, State Housing Company Limited, Toyota Ghana Limited, Unilever Ghana Limited, Villa Cincinario, Voltic Ghana Limited, West African Mills and Western Union Money Transfer.
Delivering the keynote address at the function on behalf of the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, a Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development, and the President’s Special Initiative, Mrs Gifty Ohene-Konadu, said the private sector must work closely with the government to ensure rapid development of the economy.
The Vice President said six key priorities needed to be focused on during the next phase of the country’s economic development.
These, he said, were enforcing adherence to rules and regulations regarding business operations; aggressively promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship at all levels of the society and attracting and mobilising foreign investment to priority sectors.
The rest were, building synergies between local entrepreneurs and foreign investors; improving efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of local industries through skills development, access to credit and technology improvement and promoting exports and facilitating access to foreign markets.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama said the focus of the government’s policy “is on the integration, promotion, development and growth of the private sector.
The Vice President acknowledged that “there have been remarkable reforms in the financial sector which has significantly transformed our economy”, adding that “these reforms have indeed opened up investments in the banking sector”.
The Vice-President called on businesses in the country to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that abound in the economy to turn around the economy.
He commended the business community and the financial institutions for their immense contribution to the economy.
A Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Anthony Akoto-Osei, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Dominic Donkoh, a Director at the Ministry, said there was the need for the financial service sector to support the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to ensure their growth and development.
“Banks and other financial institutions remain the most significant source of credit for funding business and meeting the needs of individual borrowers”, he said.
“This demonstrates the critical role the banks and financial institutions are playing in financing the private sector, which has been identified as the engine of growth of our economy”, the Minister added.
Dr Akoto Osei said the government will continue to give banks and other financial institutions the necessary support to enable them realise a good return on their investments.