Ghana’s Pension Landscape – Regulatory Framework and the Three-Tier Pension System

The American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, in collaboration with the People’s Pension Trust, on Thursday, October 14, 2021, hosted a webinar to discuss the Ghanaian pension landscape, focusing specifically on the regulatory framework and the 3-Tier Pension System.

AmCham Ghana Executive Secretary, Simon Madjie during his opening remarks, acknowledged the importance of pension to the economy and its crucial role in the lives of workers. ”As of 2020, we are told that Ghana’s pension asset is over $5.8 billion. That is very significant, and as a credible platform, we are happy to bring all the experts here to discuss this issue,” he added.

Other speakers at the event included David Tetteh-Amey Abbey, DCEO of the National Pension Regulatory Authority, and Kofi Eba-Miezah Polley, Chief Operations Officer at People’s Pension. Their presentations focused on Ghana’s pension landscape and the regulatory framework in which it operates and provided insights on the 3-tier pension system and how to choose a plan that works.

The event was moderated by, Laud Senanu, Esq. Independent Trustee at People’s Pension.

Watch the full event below.

ALLSTAR Insurance Brokers Committed To Providing World Class Services To Its Clients

AmCham Ghana Executive Secretary, Simon Madjie, engaged with the management of ALLSTAR Insurance Brokers on their operations in the country. ALLSTAR Insurance Brokers provides bespoke insurance brokerage services to individuals, corporations, affinity groups, and MSMEs.

The company has access to all insurers in Ghana and several international partners, allowing risk to be reviewed and built from the ground up.

Allstar Brokers can tailor benefits to protect your company and employees, including burglary insurance, cash-in-transit, goods-in-transit, public liability, bankers indemnity, advance mobilization, customs bond, assets all risks, combined fire package, fleet motor vehicle, group life, group medical, international group medical, group personal accident, and critical illness insurance, key man insurance, shareholders protection insurance, medical expenses, evacuation & repatriation, welfare insurance schemes, and many variations thereof.

Delta Air Lines And AmCham Ghana Set For More Future Collaborations

AmCham Ghana and Delta Air Lines are set for more collaborations in the future to host events on issues of mutual interest. This was disclosed when the chamber’s Executive Secretary, Simon Madjie, paid a visit to the offices of Delta and engaged with the Sales Manager for Ghana, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire, Eloina Baddoo.

Delta Air Lines is one of the longest-standing members of AmCham Ghana and has collaborated on many events in the past. Every year, nearly 200 million travelers trust Delta to get them where they’re going.

Delta is the first and longest-serving American carrier connecting Ghanaians and Americans for business, leisure, and medical travel in safety and comfort since 2006.

AmCham Ghana Meeting With Government Account And Local Content Head At Baker Hughes

AmCham Ghana Executive Secretary, Simon Madjie, met with William Yeboah, Government Account and Local Content Head at Baker Hughes, to discuss the company’s operations and possible areas of collaboration with the chamber.

The AmCham Ghana Gold Member, Baker Hughes is a U.S company with operations in more than 120 countries and works in partnership with our customers, wherever they are, to deliver better outcomes.

Baker Hughes is committed to an inclusive and collaborative culture, helping its 54,000 employees develop their careers and thrive at work every day.

Nii Plants & Car Rentals Limited Opens New Corporate Office

Nii Plants and Car Rentals, on Friday, October 1, 2021, officially opened its new ultra-modern corporate office at Dansoman in Accra.

The new office complex is also home to the company’s subsidiaries, Plantsville Residences, NiiPlants Logistics, and Puffs Ghana.  The new building was designed and constructed by another AmCham Ghana member, Landsar Developers Ltd.

Nii Plants has built up a solid reputation in providing unbridled customer-focused total mobility services since its establishment in 2007.

The company has positioned itself to cater to your business needs, organizing airline travel ticketing, ensure that you travel in comfort, style, and safety. The Nii Plants Business Concierge service is designed to cater to all your executive and personal needs. They rent and maintain cars on your behalf whatever the size of your business or requirements.

Nii Plants is committed to providing a full range of unmatched service standards, competitive rates, and professionalism by meeting the demands of customers. Learn more

Ecobank, People’s Pension Target Workers, Especially the Underserved With a Digital Pension Product

People’s Pension and Ecobank Ghana have launched a new innovative digital pension product that will allow all workers, particularly informal workers who make up about 85% of the Ghanaian workforce, to contribute towards a better retirement through the Ecobank Mobile App and the Ecobank Xpress points nationwide.

On the Ecobank Mobile App, the product is listed as a biller option under Pensions Biller. It enables both new and existing People’s Pension and Ecobank customers to contribute conveniently towards their pension. For informal workers, it provides a much-needed avenue for them to save and for formal sector works, this plan can be used to augment their mandatory schemes.

For the second sign-up channel which is the Ecobank Xpress points, eligible members of the public can sign up for the pension scheme at over 6000 Xpress points nationwide. These agent points are readily available in the communities and offer the ease and convenience of signing up without travelling long distances to access the service.

Bringing pension services closer to everyone through this partnership will create a significant impact and help accelerate the financial inclusion drive and generate enormous benefits to the Ghanaian economy. This partnership is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 8 of ensuring No Poverty and Decent Work and Economic Growth for all.

Speaking at the launch, CEO of People’s Pension, Saqib Nazir, noted that Ghana’s informal sector workers, largely underserved with financial services, form part of the 400 to 500 million in West Africa and the two billion people globally who need financial services extended to them.

Whereas the risk of extending financial services to the informal sector is high, there is also a huge potential of funds to be mobilized from that sector for national development when they are financially included while creating value and security for the contributors.

Saqib Nazir noted that financially including the informal sector has been a difficult one over the years. Still, strategic partnerships like Ecobank and People’s Pension present flexible and innovative pensions that should enable informal sector workers to get on board and secure a future for themselves easily.

The Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Dan Sackey, on the other hand, said this new partnership is testimony to Ecobank’s avowed commitment to using digital technology to drive financial inclusion and create value for Ghanaians, especially the largely underserved informal sector.

He said the move has a two-edged sword of ensuring financial inclusion to secure informal sector workers’ long-term welfare and unlocking and redirecting capital for long-term national development.

Director of Research, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Amartey Vondee, lauded the two institutions for designing such an innovative product that helps extend pension coverage in the country.

CITAM Joins AmCham Ghana

CITAM Ltd was established in 2007 as a training, consulting, and recruiting firm to provide world-class service to individuals and organizations.

Over the years, however, it has gained a reputation as a major firm providing technology and management solutions with a focus on human resource management.

They have provided services to Government, Public and Private institutions. Our expertise spans Strategic Planning, Organizational Restructuring, Performance Management Systems, Rewards Management System, Management Information System, and Business Services.

CITAM has an office in Virginia serving the Washington, DC metro area. In addition to providing training, consulting, and recruiting services, this office is dedicated to assisting American companies and investors who wish to do business in Ghana and Africa. Learn more

On behalf of the AmCham Ghana Board of Directors, the chamber welcomes CITAM to our community of progressive business.

Baker Hughes Joins AmCham Ghana

Baker Hughes, an American international industrial service company and one of the world’s largest oil field services companies joins AmCham Ghana as a Gold Member.

The company is the leading energy technology company. They design, manufacture and service transformative technologies to help take energy forward.

For more than a century, their inventions have revolutionized energy. They harness the power of engineering, data, and science to redefine what’s possible.

With operations in more than 120 countries, Baker Hughes works in partnership with our customers, wherever they are, to deliver better outcomes. They are proud that their people and the company’s businesses are part of the fabric of the communities in which they work. Learn more

AmCham Ghana Executive Secretary Pay Courtesy Call On AGRIMAT

AmCham Ghana Executive Secretary, Simon Madjie, paid a courtesy call on AGRIMAT USA LLC., operators of the Agrimat factory at the Tema industrial enclave.  The company produces packaging and storage materials for organic products which can store produce such as Cocoa, Maize, and other grains for up to 7 years.

The factory will be fully operational in October and will employ over 50 workers with half of them being women. The products are poised to be traded under the AfCFTA.

AGRIMAT USA, is primarily an agricultural input distribution company that has set as its goal the aim of bringing to the rest of the world some of the inputs that are made in the USA which have made the productivity and yields of the American farmer the envy of other farmers in some other parts of the world.

Meet The Keynote Speakers For The #2021USGhanaBusinessForum

We are honored to have Ghana’s Minister of Trade, Hon. Alan Kyerematen and the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Constance Hamilton, to deliver the keynote speeches at the #2021USGhanaBusinessForum, which comes off on September 8 to 9, 2021.

The #2021USGhanaBusinessForum will be under the theme; Promoting U.S.-Ghana Partnership through Trade and Investment, and is organized in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Embassy of Ghana, Washington DC, United States Commercial Service, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, and the Ghana – Houston Chamber of Commerce.

The forum seeks to provide insights into the evolving relations on trade and investment between the U.S., Ghana, and the African continent, and share knowledge and experiences of U.S. and Ghanaian private sectors who have invested in the U.S. and Ghanaian economies.

It will also provide first-hand information about the trading performance after almost 9 months of trading under AfCFTA and share how investors can take advantage of the trade and investment opportunities under the
AfCFTA in existing and emerging sectors.

Click Here To Register 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Kyerematen is the current Minister of Trade and Industry of Ghana, having served in the same capacity between 2003 and 2007. He has an extensive and distinguished record in international trade and public policy, enterprise development, politics, and diplomacy. He is a former Ambassador to the US, UN Policy Advisor, Lawyer and Senior Corporate Executive. As Ghana’s Minister of Trade, Industry, and Presidential Special Initiatives from 2003 to 2007, he led the design, development, and implementation of innovative programs and special interventions which have become new strategic pillars of growth for the Ghanaian economy. He also played a key role in shaping Africa’s Trade Policy agenda in the WTO, the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Negotiations, AGOA, and UNCTAD.

Prior to his appointment as Minister, Mr. Kyerematen served as Ambassador of Ghana to the United States of America from 2001 to 2003. In that role, he negotiated various landmark trade and investment agreements between Ghana and the United States and initiated the establishment of the Ghana-United States Economic Council, which played a strategic role in deepening trade relations between the two countries. Between 1998- 2001, Alan Kyerematen served as the first Regional Director of ENTERPRISE AFRICA, UNDP’s flagship initiative for the development and promotion of small and medium enterprises in Africa. Under that framework, he established enterprise support programmes in 13 Sub-Saharan Africa countries – Botswana, Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda. Over 4,000 African entrepreneurs and small businesses have benefited from these programmes.

In 1990, Alan Kyerematen was responsible for establishing and managing the EMPRETEC Programme in Ghana, a leading business development institution sponsored by the United Nations and Barclays Bank Limited. He led the transformation of EMPRETEC from a UN project into an independent Foundation, which is recognized as a world-class institution and best practice model for entrepreneurship development in Africa. Between 1984 and 1990, he managed a number of major private and public sector consulting assignments in Ghana, as a Principal Consultant and Head of Public Systems Management with the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), a leading management development institution in Ghana. Prior to this, he was a senior corporate executive with UAC Ghana Ltd, a subsidiary of Unilever International, where he worked in various managerial positions with a distinction between 1977-1984.

As Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, from July 2011-December 2013, Alan Kyerematen led efforts in building capacity in various African countries in trade policy formulation and trade negotiations. In addition, he was a leading member of the technical team of the African Union that developed the Action Plan for the establishment of a Continental Free Trade Area for Africa, to be launched in 2017.

Alan Kyerematen is a graduate in Economics from the University of Ghana and is also a qualified Barrister-atLaw from the Ghana Law School. In addition, he was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the School of Public Affairs and the School of Management of the University of Minnesota, under the US Fulbright Fellowship Programme. He was a Member of the Council of Governors of the British Executive Service Overseas (BESO) in the United Kingdom and has also served as a Board member of several other organizations in Ghana. In 1994, Mr. Kyerematen was listed as one of the top 100 Global Leaders for the New Millennium by the Time International Magazine together with other personalities such as Bill Gates and John F Kennedy Jnr. of the United States of America. In 2013, he was nominated by the Heads of States of the African Union to contest as Africa’s candidate for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Constance Hamilton is the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Office of the United States Trade Representative. In this capacity, she leads U.S. trade efforts in the 49 countries of sub-Saharan Africa and oversees the Administration’s implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Ms.
Hamilton is responsible for developing and advancing bilateral, regional and multilateral U.S. initiatives to enhance U.S. trade and economic cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms. Hamilton previously served as the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, where she advanced measures to open markets and improve the investment climates in African countries.

Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Hamilton served as Supervisory Economist and Chief of the Asia-Africa Division at the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). In this position, she led the agency’s analysis of African and Asian trade and investment issues. During her tenure at the USITC, Ms. Hamilton directed and planned special research studies on a broad range of regional and trade topics, including free trade area agreements, trade with non-market economy countries, and industrial targeting.

Before joining the U.S. International Commission, Ms. Hamilton was an Economist with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where she developed methodologies and survey instruments for research into social and economic issues pertinent to the mission of the agency. Ms. Hamilton began her career as a Research Associate with the Urban Institute, a non-profit think tank specializing in research in the areas of public finance, economic development, and housing.

Ms. Hamilton holds a B.A. Degree in Economics and a Masters’ Degree in Economics from Howard University. She is co-author of numerous publications in the field of international trade.

 

 

 

The US-Ghana Business Forum is an annual flagship, high-level meeting between U.S, Ghanaian Government Officials, and Businesses aimed at deepening diplomatic and commercial partnerships between Ghana and the United States.

The 2021 Forum is premised on the theme: Promoting U.S.-Ghana Partnership through Trade and Investment and comes on the back of Ghana’s hosting of the Africa Continent Free Trade Area Secretariat and also after several months of trading through the AfCFTA. The AfCFTA is the world’s largest free trade area in terms of number of countries encompassing 1.2 billion people and about US$2.5 trillion. The AfCFTA presents a window for African countries and their trading partners to take advantage of the many trade and investment opportunities created. Trading partners who had hitherto focused on bilateral trade relations, now have the opportunity to reach larger African markets through the AfCFTA.

The 2021 Forum aims to strengthen trade and investment, promote business partnerships, and opportunities between U.S. and Ghanaian Companies in key sectors including: Technology and digitization, Energy and Mining, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Services and Franchising. The forum will also review trading under the AfCFTA and assess how U.S. and Ghanaian companies can take advantage of this opportunity.

The event will be virtual to be held over two days. The forum will have several sessions including plenary with high-level government officials as speakers; panel discussions on sectors involving experts and senior U.S. and Ghanaian Officials and leaders from the business community. It will serve as a platform to explore new business opportunities and address regulatory challenges affecting trade and investment. Further access details will be sent following registration. Register Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Enquiries
executivesecretary@amchamghana.org
communications@amchamghana.org