A total of 200 Ghanaian businesses, ranging from light industry, manufacturing, procurement and logistics, have registered to operate on an online platform where their profiles will help them to access contracts with large local and international companies.
The African Partner Pool (APP) is developed by Invest In Africa (IIA), an organisation set up by Tullow, Lonrho and other companies to tackle shared private sector challenges and help local businesses stand shoulder high and bid for competitive contracts.
The Country Manager for IIA, Mr Sam Brandful, at the launch in Accra on Tuesday, said the APP was an online business directory that gave SMEs the opportunity to access tenders from multiple buyers as well as reduce the time, effort and cost of pre-qualification by having in one place, the details that buyers repeatedly requested.
The APP was created to simplify the local sourcing process by connecting independently validated Ghanaian SMEs with international and domestic companies.
Another batch of 240 Ghanaian SMEs are going through the process of completing the registration formalities. The launch attracted representatives from some current and potential partners of IIA. The buyers of APP include the UT Bank; AB & David Law; Vodafone and Ecobank; Ernest and Young; Clyde & Co; General Electric, DHL and Newmont.
The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is also a partner of IIA.
Mr Brandful said the APP was a step in the right direction as it sought to tackle cross-sector concerns and would hope to provide a long term opportunity to attract further investments and create an avenue for various business linkages and deals.
Training with AfDB
In partnership with the African Development Bank (ADB), IIA will provide business skills, management training and mentoring to Ghanaian suppliers to help them become more internationally competitive.
He also added that, the IIA aims at growing the portfolio of its partners and therefore urged the partners to approach the IIA with recurring business challenges for potential solutions.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, also encouraged all SMEs to register and get listed on the APP platform and benefit from the advantages that come with it.
She said this current age of computer technology provided tremendous opportunities and avenues for large, medium and small scale enterprises to promote their businesses and link up with clients all over the world.
Endorsement
Mrs Trebarh said companies which had access to the right type of information at the right time were able to competitively bid and win international contracts, no matter where they were located.
One of Ghana’s most astute economists, Professor Kwesi Botchwey, also pointed out that there was tremendous potential within the environment which could not be achieved without initiatives such as the APP.
He noted that any initiative that linked up people and businesses was wonderful, and added that he was tracking it closely to offer help when needed.