Her Majesty’s Trade Minister for Africa, Emma Wade-Smith, has encouraged Ghanaian consumers to patronise good quality local products to improve the economy.
She was answering questions by the media during a tour of the Unilever Ghana factory here.
The areas toured covered the company’s tea factory, home care factory and biomass boiler plant.
The visit which is a follow-up on the UK Africa Summit, would help her appreciate the government’s priorities to further develop and diversify the economy.
It also provided opportunity to understand the successes of UK businesses and how to support their further growth.
“This visit is in line with our mission to help the companies continue to be successful and set examples for others to emulate,” she said.
Emma Wade-Smith said the UK renowned for its quality, standards, values and ethics had built same values into its business and that was very clearly demonstrated in the brands made by Unilever Ghana.
She commended the company for the innovation in making its brands available countrywide in a way that was appropriate for its consumer base.
Emma Wade-Smith extolled the trading relations between the UK and Ghana which currently stood at £1.4 billion.
She was hopeful that companies in Ghana would take advantage of a new programme created out of the recent UK Africa investment forum to help Ghanaian companies to export more globally.
She urged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to harness the benefits of the trade connect programme to export their products to supermarkets in the UK and beyond.
The Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, George Owusu Ansah, in his welcome address said the company had operated successfully for several decades because it treasured humanity and the environment, as such it was guided by sustainability in all its dealings which made the company receive the support and patronage of many people.
Mr Owusu Ansah noted that Unilever Ghana believed in fair competition and was poised to lead the competition in the industry by making available more good quality and affordable products on the market.
He said the company’s decision to generate electricity from renewable sources through project 49 (biomass plant which utilises palm nut shells) had helped reduce energy cost by about 70 per cent.
Mr Owusu Ansah added that the second phase of the biomass project was aimed at taking the company out of the national grid with consequence to significantly reduce cost of production.
Mr Owusu Ansah and Emma Wade-Smith jointly planted a tree to commemorate the visit.
DSC 0444: Emma Wade-Smith(middle) poses with Mr Owusu Ansah and other dignitaries during the visit.
DSC 0462: Emma Wade-Smith(third from right) and other dignitaries being conducted round the factory. With her is Mr Owusu Ansah(fifth from right).
DSC: 0466: Emma Wade-Smith and Mr Owusu Ansah
FROM GODFRED BLAY GIBBAH, TEMA
