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Thyssenkrupp to make Ghana hub of operations in West Africa –CEO, Sub-Saharan Africa

Thyssenkrupp, a German multinational conglomerate and leading Industrial Solutions partner for the engineering, construction and service of industrial plants and systems says it is working towards making Ghana the hub for its operations in West Africa.

The move according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sub-Saharan Africa of thyssenkrupp, Dr Philipp Nellessen was a sign of the company’s commitment to Ghana.

“Ghana would play a huge role in the industrialisation drive of Africa as we are also working towards making the country the hub for the West African region in order to achieve that growth,” he stated.

Speaking at a media roundtable, by the company in Accra on Tuesday, Dr Nellessen said, Ghana had over the years developed a good business atmosphere that is very attractive to multinational companies.

 “We are developing our office in Accra to become the central office for West Africa and regional petrochemical hub as we also have the relevant technologies and the experience as one of the leading companies in plant engineering and construction as well as industrial services,” he added.

He stressed that, employees are the most important assets of the company and they are training young Ghanaians in centres in Africa as well as their companies and engineering hubs abroad.

With focus on the oil and gas sector, agriculture in terms of fertiliser production and other areas of the company’s operations he said, Ghana would be the right place to lead the change towards the economic transformation needed in Africa.

He said, Africa is one of the continents that would help the growth of the company in future and the industrialisation trend in Ghana would be used as the basis.

“A lot of the things that we want to do in Africa from fertiliser production to gas exploitation could be done in Ghana and we need to invest and make the country the industrial hub for West Africa,” he stressed.

He outlined thyssenkrupps’s vast experience within industrial solutions which included thyssenkrupp building over 2,500 chemical plants built worldwide with 90 years of experience in construction of fertiliser plants and with a vast portfolio in the mining and energy industries across many Africa countries.

He also added that building a chemical industry utilising feedstock like gas could be a very important step in developing a countries industry and outlined the experience thyssenkrupp gained in this over the last decades in other African countries, for example Egypt where they build the vast majority of the fertiliser plants always focussing on increasing local content.

Touching briefly on the cocoa sector  Dr Nellessen said countries like Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire that rank second and first in cocoa production globally respectively have the biomass cocoa waste in excess as a fuel source for production of power from biomass. This situation applies to other African countries as well with other types of biomass which thyssenkrupp can help with the diversification of Ghana’s cocoa industry through waste to power solutions, he stated.

Mr Seth Miah, the Regional Manager for West Africa at thyssenkrupp reiterated   thyssenkrupp as the ideal partner for developing Ghana’s petroleum hub owing to its holistic, efficient and sustainable solutions.

He commended the government for its commitment in the industrialisation agenda and that once the process was due, the company would continue its efforts in partnering all stakeholders to fully industrialise Ghana.

BY MICHAEL D. ABAYATEYE

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