AmCham Ghana and U.S. Embassy Ghana Launch SelectUSA Summit Recruitment

AmCham Ghana, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, on Monday, April 25, 2022, hosted a business breakfast for entrepreneurs and business executives to share valuable insight on investing in the United States through the SelectUSA Program.

The event featured remarks from AmCham Ghana President, Ayesha Bedwei Ibe, who noted the importance of Ghanaian companies expanding into the American market and reiterated the Chamber’s commitment to promoting investment and prosperity between the United States and Ghana.

Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, including Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Stephanie Hutchison and Commercial Counselor Dean Matlack, also highlighted the available U.S. Government resources for investors, the United States’ strong culture of innovation, the country’s business environment, labor force, diversity of industries, and lucrative domestic consumer market.

Dean Matlack will lead the Ghanaian delegation to the SelectUSA Summit, which will be held on June 26-29, 2022, in Washington, DC.  He encouraged interested Ghanaian companies to sign up for this major networking event, if not this year, then next.

PwC, Kimanthi and Partners, and McDan Shipping and Logistics discussed market entry considerations, legal aspects of foreign direct investment, and the logistics of moving goods to support investments abroad.  United Airlines highlighted its services for travelers to the SelectUSA Summit.

This event was sponsored by  PwC Ghana, United Airlines, and MCDan Shipping Company Ltd.

For more information about attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit, the SelectUSA Program, and investing in the United States, please visit the U.S. Embassy website section for businesses and investors: https://gh.usembassy.gov/business/getting-started-usa/.

Credit: https://gh.usembassy.gov/

 

AmCham Ghana Hosts First Franchise Committee Meeting

The Chamber, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, hosted the first AmCham Ghana Franchise Committee meeting at the secretariat.

Discussions were on helping franchisees secure funding and investment for their operations in the country. The committee members who are franchise holders also shared some of their challenges in doing business in Ghana and suggested measures that could help improve the business environment for franchisees.

The AmCham Ghana Franchise Committee is an AmCham Ghana initiative supported by the  U.S. Commercial Service in Ghana and chaired by Ashok Mohinani, Executive Director of Mohinani Group which also owns all the KFC franchises in Ghana. The committee’s membership includes executives from AVIS, FedEx, Interbrand Ghana, UPS, Orkin, Dominos Pizza, Burger King, and Original American Cola.

The franchise committee aims to help build a profitable franchise ecosystem in Ghana by promoting successful franchises and advocating for laws and policies that will improve the ease of doing business for franchisees.

Interbrand Ghana Limited Joins AmCham Ghana

The Chamber is pleased to welcome Interbrand Ghana Limited to our community of progressive businesses as #PlatinumMembers.

Interbrands Ghana Limited is a privately owned trading and distribution company with over 25 years of experience in the fields of importing and distributing in Ghana. The basic function of the company is to source and distribute Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) from both the domestic and overseas markets.

Interbrands Ghana Limited is a subsidiary of GMA Group, an American company headquartered in New York City. GMA Group is a multi-industry holding company with a specialty in sourcing, manufacturing, wholesale, and real estate in the U.S. and around the world for almost three decades.

The company has the vision to become the leading consumer product distributor in Ghana by bringing quality products that add value to people`s lives, constantly recognizing changes in lifestyle and consumer preferences, while relentlessly pursuing customer and employee excellence.

IGL is dedicated to delivering sustainable excellence in business performance by focusing on Client/Suppliers` requirements to achieve customer satisfaction and profitability with quality product ranges. Learn More

CONTACT

Phone: +233-540124893
Email: info@interbrandsghltd.com

Address: MF Building, 20
Ashiakle Crescent Abelenkpe
P.M.B 47 Kanda Accra, Ghana

Mon – Fri 8:00Am – 5:00Pm
Sat – 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Sun – Closed

 

Junior Achievement Joins AmCham Ghana

Junior Achievement (JA) Ghana, a member of JA Worldwide, one of the world’s largest global, nonprofit organizations dedicated to empowering young people to own their economic success by enhancing the relevance of education, joins AmCham Ghana.

JA’s unique and experiential programs focus on the areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. Their programs employ a range of hands-on activities to give young people the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills practically.

JA gives students the knowledge and skills to start and manage their businesses and to apply entrepreneurial thinking to solve everyday problems. They work to expand young peoples’ abilities to manage their finances smartly and effectively, through proven programs.

Junior Achievement was founded in the United States in 1919 to help prepare immigrant youth to enter the workforce in the country, without being disadvantaged in terms of preparedness. In 1955, JA expanded beyond the United States, and today, its programs are delivered to young people across the world.

Since its establishment in Ghana in 2008, JA Ghana has served over 20,000 Ghanaian youth in over 80 schools/institutions, across the country, with financial, in-kind, and volunteer support from stakeholders such as Nokia, Coca-Cola, Newmont Goldcorp Ghana, Goldfields Ghana Ltd, Fidelity Bank, GE, Prudential Life Insurance Ghana, Delta Airlines, Aiducation International and Swiss Re. Learn more…

 

Contact

NTHC No. 1 Aviation Lane, Baatsona – Spintex, Accra-Ghana

Email: info@jaghana.org
Telephone: +233 30 272 8249

Fair Trade Outsourcing Joins AmCham Ghana

The American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, is pleased to announce Fair Trade Outsourcing as our new #GoldMember. Fair Trade Outsourcing is a fast-growing BPO company and fair trade outsourcing center that provides impact sourcing work for companies worldwide.

Fair Trade has its main office is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a global network of delivery centers in the Philippines, Mexico, and Ghana.

The quality and results they produce are not from the number of “seats” that they have but from its smart, skilled workers – the “Humans of Fair Trade Outsourcing.”

The company guarantees a safe work environment, transparency, and accountability. They have pioneered programs that make a positive social and economic impact on their agents, their families, and communities. As an advocate of the Fair Trade Principles, Fair Trade Outsourcing has implemented a Learning and Development Program that seeks to build agents’ capacities (not just train them) and reward them for working hard to improve their capabilities.

Their goal is to provide as many people as possible with impact sourcing work that pays up to 3 times the poverty line to move them into the middle-class as soon as possible and convert them from mere wage earners to capital owners. Learn more…

 

Contact

Fair Trade Outsourcing Inc.
2F Sethi Plaza and Realty
Kwame Nkrumah Ave
Adabraka, Accra
GHANA 23321

AmCham Member Focus: Piedmont Lithium – Sustainability Through Responsible Lithium Hydroxide Manufacturing

Piedmont Lithium, a Platinum AmCham Ghana, is on target to become the only integrated producer of lithium hydroxide from spodumene ore in the United States. With assets located in the mineral-rich, world-renowned Carolina Tin Spodumene belt in North Carolina.

In July this year, Piedmont entered into a conditional binding agreement with IronRidge Resources to fully fund and fast track the Ewoyaa Lithium Project, part of IronRidge’s Ghanaian Cape Coast Lithium Portfolio (CCLP), to production.

Piedmont President and CEO Keith Phillips, hinted in a recent statement that spodumene production at Ewoyaa in partnership with Atlantic Lithium could begin as early as 2024. This is expected to feed the lithium hydroxide plant – LHP-2.

The company recently reported the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA” or “Study”) for a proposed merchant lithium hydroxide plant (“LHP-2”) to expand Piedmont’s planned U.S. manufacturing capacity to 60,000 t/y of lithium hydroxide. The LHP-2 PEA results demonstrate the potential for Piedmont Lithium to expand its lithium hydroxide manufacturing business using spodumene concentrate from market sources, including under existing offtake agreements with Sayona Quebec and Atlantic Lithium. Get the full report here

Piedmont has developed a more stable and sustainable Lithium production solution designed to provide a significantly smaller footprint. They have a responsibility to be good stewards of the land, our planet, our environment, and our community. Working in the most sustainable way possible is their number one priority because they understand what they produce is directly related to positively impacting the sustainability of our planet by helping to reduce global carbon emissions for future generations.

Piedmont Lithium supplies metals and minerals used to build “green energy” innovations and conventional consumer and industrial products. From producing Lithium-ion battery metals to minerals used in everyday consumer products, using sustainable technologies throughout their operations.

Piedmont Lithium continues to develop its Corporate Social Responsibility position including identifying key values that reflect its continual commitment to supporting global efforts. Their part in the process includes pinpointing hazards, analyzing risks, and implementing standards for mining operations and supply chain activities as well developing internal safety standards and guidelines to mitigate the risks and hazards associated with its entire value chain. Learn more 

Implications of AfCFTA for International Businesses

The AmCham AfCFTA Resource Centre, under the auspices of the Ameican Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, on Tuesday, March 8, hosted Dode Seidu, a trade advisor and AfCFTA consultant for the first edition of the webinar series on the implications of African Continental Free Trade Area agreement for international businesses.

The event provided an overview of the trade agreement and updates on its implication. Our speaker also touched on the Rules of Origin and its benefits for International Businesses and provided insight into AfCFTA in the context of intra-Africa trade.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement creates the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number of countries participating. The pact is said to connect 1.3 billion people across 54 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4 trillion.

The trade agreement aims to create a single market for goods and services, facilitated by the movement of persons to deepen the economic integration of the African continent. So far, 28 countries have made Tariff Offers that have been certified by the AfCFTA Secretariat as having met the minimum threshold requirement of 90% of the tariff lines and ready to commence trading under AfCFTA.

As to the implications for international business, the mutual recognition of standards, licensing, and certification of service suppliers will make it easier for businesses and individuals to satisfy the regulatory requirements of operating in each other’s markets. Also, the dispute settlement mechanism provides a rule-based avenue for the resolution of any disputes that may arise between State Parties in the application of the agreement.

Watch the full event below.

Click to Download the Presentation

AmCham Ghana 25th PwC Annual Global CEO Survey Digest

The Chamber, on March 1, 2022, hosted Richard Ansong, Partner at PwC Ghana, for a webinar on the recently released 25th PwC Annual Global CEO Survey titled Reimagining the Outcomes that Matter. The webinar was to break down the survey findings to provide insight into what global CEOs make of the business year ahead as businesses gradually recover from the pandemic.

The 2022 Global CEO Survey reflects the threats, uncertainties, and tensions associated with the pandemic and other issues such as cyberattacks and macroeconomic shock. Over the past 25 years, PwC has had the privilege to gather insight and sentiment of CEOs around the world to analyze and provide some perspective as to what is most important and works most for these CEOs.

The survey was conducted in October and November of 2021, and in aggregate, CEO optimism has remained stable, and high. About 77% of executives said they expect global economic growth to improve during the year ahead, an uptick of one percentage point from the previous survey (conducted in January and February of 2021) and the highest figure on record since 2012.

Watch the full webinar below.

 

AmCham 2022 Black History Month Celebration

The American Chamber of Commerce, Ghana, in collaboration with Webster University Ghana Campus and Yaw Pare Photography, on February 24, 2022, marked the 2022 Black History Month celebrations with art at the Webster Ghana campus.

Held under the theme,  The Health and Wellness of Accepting the Remnants of a Haunted Past. (The role of Forts and Castles of Ghana, by Yaw Pare), the event was attended by members, friends, and associates of the Chamber and our organizing partners.

The 2022 AmCham Black Month celebration featured remarks from the Chamber’s Executive Secretary, Simon Madjie, and Membership, External Relations, and Project Manager, Jane Okyere-Aduachie. It also featured remarks from the President of the African-American Association of Ghana, Sherrie Thompson, the Academic Director at Webster Ghana, Dr. Linda Deigh, and Yaw Pare who shared the story behind his new book, Remnants of a Haunted Past: Forts and Castles of Ghana.

The forts and castles themselves bear witness to the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, so too do these photographs provide compelling material and visual testimonies, offering possibilities for understanding that words do not. Yaw’s camera captures a reality that many choose to remember but just as many choose to forget. Ultimately, Remnants of a Haunted Past: Forts and Castles of Ghana constitutes an attempt to document the past so that it is never forgotten in the present.

The event featured poetry on the beauty of Ghana and a drama skit reenacting the horrors of the slave trade.

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.

The State of Security in West Africa | An Epidemic Of Coup D’États;” Is West Africa Still Attractive For FDI?

The Chamber, on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, hosted a webinar on the state of security in West Africa to discuss the impact of the various coups on Foreign Direct Investment to the region.

Speaker for the event, Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, Executive DirectorWest Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism, provided insight into the history of coup d’etats in West Africa.

His presentation also covered the threat of extremism in the region, stating that about 53% of West African countries are currently experiencing terrorist violence. According to Mutaru, piracy has also descended from the Horn of Africa to the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. “Gulf of Guinea is currently the deadliest waters globally. 43% of all piracy incidents took in the Gulf of Guinea in Q1 of 2021.”

Despite these challenges, Mutaru maintained that West Africa is still attractive for Foreign Direct Investment. Nigeria, he said attracted one-tenth of all FDI in 2020, notwithstanding threats of terrorism and COVID-19.  The continent continues to see a huge increase in FDI. “A year after the pandemic, there has been more than $4.7 billion in venture funding.”

Watch the full event below.