Affordable capital key to business growth — CEO Promasidor Ghana
FOR Ghanaian companies to expand and dominate the African market with quality products will hinge on factors such as tax competitiveness and cost efficiency, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Promasidor Ghana Limited, Festus Tettey, has said.
Advertisement
He explained that access to affordable capital enables businesses to invest in innovation, infrastructure and efficiency to drive growth and competitiveness in the market.
“In Africa, micro economic situations fluctuate and so it’s hard that sometimes we businesses feel the crunch of these difficulties.
What industry needs, especially the food industry or manufacturing and business in general, to improve is for government to ensure that we get low cost capital to produce and that will make us competitive even within the West African sub region,” he said.
Mr Tettey was speaking in an interview with the media on the sidelines of a thanksgiving service last Friday in Accra to kick off the 25th anniversary celebration of Promasidor Ghana Limited.
The event was on the theme: “25 Years Of Nourishing Ghana With Our Creamy Goodness.”
“Today we are exporting to numerous countries but the key thing is how we compete on taxes and cost of operation. We are playing on the same field with our neighbouring countries in the sub-region so if we don’t have competitive cost of capital it will be very difficult to compete with our peers in other countries so good cost of capital and competitive taxes are key to enabling our industries to expand and dominate West Africa with quality products from Ghana,” he said.
He said: “For as long as many Ghanaians can remember, Cowbell is that iconic brand that keeps supporting students, parents, children, workers and the general public with nutritious milk any day.
“From our humble beginnings in 1999 to date, we have grown exponentially in product line and extensions. On behalf of management, I express sincere thanks to past and present staff members for their diligence, and commitment to ensuring continued innovation of our great brand.”
He added, “The jubilee celebration is not only a win for Cowbell and Promasidor but a win for our customers, distributors and all partners. We largely owe our success story to the continual support of the good people of Ghana.”
Mr Tettey indicated that currently, most meals in Ghana will be incomplete without Onga seasoning while children born from 2014 to date have had a great choice of infant cereal in the form of Yumvita.
“Backed by visionary leadership and excellent execution over the years, we have succeeded in taking care of breakfast to dinner in the homes of many Ghanaians with our quality products. Our consumers have always been at the centre of what we do and will continue to be.”
From container offices on the rented space at Pens and Plastics Ghana Limited, we are currently situated in this beautiful edifice and have created employment for over 1,000 employees and their dependents directly, not counting the indirect employment we have created with our suppliers, distribution partners just to mention a few,” he said.
Looking ahead
Mr Tettey said beyond the 25 years, the company still has consumer needs to satisfy with its innovative and creative product development capabilities, adding that “we dare not rest on our oars, as there are many examples of institutions worldwide that have plummeted after reaching certain heights. For us, there are still many mountains to climb and I am confident this team can.”
He said currently, the company does not only operate across the length and breadth of Ghana, but also exports to neighbouring countries such as Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bisseau, Gambia, Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, Cote D’ivoire among others.
He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to leading the market with quality food products, while setting the highest standards in production in Africa.