Maintain competitive environment to attract investors
The French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Frederic Clavier, has urged Ghana to continue to implement business-friendly policies and laws that provide incentives in order to attract more companies from his country and the rest of Europe.
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He said the country currently had very good business law and incentives regime which made the economy attractive to many French companies, some of which had just made the country their hub for West Africa.
“It is important for Ghana to maintain its competitive advantage in comparison with other countries in the sub-region. Ghana is a country which has very high level advantage and good capacity-building and training institutions. The GIPC and Local Content laws are perfectly respected by all French companies, but it’s important not to go beyond, because the competition is very stiff,” Mr Clavier told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Accra.
This was at a reception he hosted to commemorate the opening of a permanent Regional Distribution office for one of the oldest and revered French companies, Alfa Laval, in Accra.
The global company which deals in heat transfer, food processing and industrial fluids management solutions hopes to keep a skeletal staff in Ghana from France, recruit local people and train them as it launches itself to serve the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) region from Ghana.
“Our vision, very clearly, is to create a fully fledged independent Alfa Laval company here. With all the expertise in the areas, with a value chain, we hope to grow and become a fully fledged company,” the President, Alfa Laval France and North West Africa, Ms Maryne Lemvik, said.
The French Embassy is already happy to attract some big French companies to Ghana, with Alfa Laval’s office being the second such exercise in a fortnight. A couple of weeks ago, French food processing giant, Touton, also inaugurated its operations in Ghana.
“We are in a competitive world today, but as French Ambassador, I want to continue to attract French companies to Ghana. It’s important for Ghana to continue to be an attractive destination for French companies as Alfa Laval and Touton have just demonstrated,” the French Ambassador said while lauding the country’s training and capacity-building environment.
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Foreign direct investments (FDIs) into Ghana have been coordinated by the Ghana Investment
Promotion Centre (GIPC). Under the revised GIPC Act, Act 865, generous incentives have been offered to foreign companies which set up in Ghana.
Such incentives include tax waivers, repatriation of profits, expatriate quotas etc. Ghana also benefits from an appreciable level of skills development and technology transfer.
The management of Alfa Laval is hopeful on doubling the size of its operations in the country in the next six months, and triple in three years.
Ms Lemvik said Ghana came across as a perfect destination for the company because of the ease of travelling connectivity, its democratic and economic credentials, as well as the oil find.
“There are three main opportunities in this market for us. Food processing – carbonated drinks, brewery, fruit lines and vegetables; upstream and downstream oil and gas industry as well as the maritime industry,” she said.
The company will bring its experts to train local people and give them exposure to help the company achieve its target. The regional office will provide technical expertise, reactivity and local presence.
Ms Lemvik said the more time went by, the more opportunities the company hoped to explore, adding, “We know there will be ups and downs, and we know we have to be patient but we are absolutely convinced it’ll pay off,” the company’s President in charge of France, North West Africa said.
Alfa Laval
In December 2013, the GRAPHIC BUSINESS reported Alfa Laval, leading global provider of specialised products and engineering solutions’ imminent opening of its permanent West-African sales office in Accra to enable it to capture and respond to business opportunities in the sub-region.
Until recently, North Africa and West Africa were directly managed from France, representing 22 countries from Tunisia to Congo.
The Nasdaq listed company which owns 1,900 patents also launches 35 to 40 innovations per year and provides solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling.
Alfa Laval’s products are used in key industrial processes to assist customers in reducing energy use, protecting the environment and increasing safety for food and pharmaceutical production. — GB
