Govt must support local entrepreneurs —Ishmael Yamson
A Board Member of the Ghana Cement Company Limited (GHACEM), Mr Ishmael Yamson, has called on the government to give deliberate support to Ghanaian entrepreneurs to enable them to grow their businesses.
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He said doing business in the country was not easy and, therefore, called on the government to put in place measures to ease the challenges of doing business in the country.
“There is no way we are going to create business, wealth, jobs and widespread prosperity if doing business in this country is not made easy,” he stated.
Mr Yamson made the call at a ceremony to honour the founding father of GHACEM, Dr Justice A. Addison, as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary.
He said it was very difficult for Ghanaian entrepreneurs to grow big without multinational support; hence, the need for the government to give them deliberate support to grow, especially those in the manufacturing sector.
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Unveiling of statue
GHACEM also used the opportunity to unveil a statue of Dr Addison to celebrate the man credited with establishing the leading cement manufacturing company in the country.
Mr Yamson eulogised the late Dr Addison describing him as a passionate entrepreneur who always gave reasons as to why government should support Ghanaian entrepreneurs.
He also urged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to trust their business partners to enable them to build big companies such as GHACEM, stressing “If Dr Addison did not trust his partners, GHACEM would not be here.”
The Managing Director of GHACEM , Mr Morten Gade, said: “History will continue to extoll the virtues of Dr Addison, whose achievements are numerous. Today, August 30, 2017 was chosen to honour this great son of Ghana, Dr J. A. Addison, because it is the day GHACEM was born 50 years ago.”
Motivating others
Mr Gade said Ghacem had chosen to honour Dr Addison with a statue to serve as a lasting memory in the history of the company.
The managing director further called on government to strengthen the efforts to improve conditions of local manufacturers for more benefit to the economy, adding that “We need to ensure these new factories are not only established but the conditions are favourable so they can survive in the long run,” he said.
Speaking in an interview with the media after the ceremony, Mrs Francisca Aba Addison, the wife of the late Dr Addison, appreciated GHACEM for honouring her late husband with such a monument.
Mrs Addison stated that the family currently had shares in GhacemGHACEM following the good work of her late husband.
The ceremony was witnessed by the children of Dr Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison and Lawyer Philip Addison and other members of the family, as well as the Tema Mantse, Nii Adjei Kraku II.
The late Dr, Addison is credited with establishing GhacemGHACEM after bringing in investors, as well as establishing a paper packaging factory to bag the cement and obtaining a licence for limestone quarry to provide raw materials for GHACEM .
GHACEM has been in existence since 1967 and has had a major impact with the two cement grinding plants in Tema and Takoradi.