Our local firms need support

Although the government had, in the past, pledged to play ball with local printers and publishers, the reality on the ground is quite different. The challenges in the textile industry are also worth citing, as cheap foreign imports are gradually destroying the local textile industry.

It is in this vein that the Daily Graphic welcomes the assurance from the acting Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mrs Mawuena Trabah, that the GIPC had resolved to focus on local investors for them to contribute more meaningfully to the economy. 

She said the GIPC Investment Law had, subsequently, been reviewed to, among other things, offer local investors the same benefits and incentives enjoyed by new foreign investors as a way of motivating them to give of their best.

Speaking at the maiden CEO’s Breakfast Meeting with Ghana Club 100 members in Accra, Mrs Trebah said, “Making local companies in the country strong is another way to attract new ones into the country and once the President is committed to doing something different for the private sector in the country, we will do all we can to lend our support.”

The Daily Graphic believes that many local entrepreneurs are happy to hear such reassurance from the Chief Executive of the GIPC, the centre established to attract investment into the country.

No developed or advanced country reached its present status without the ingenuity of its local entrepreneurs and the support of the government. Ghana can, therefore, not afford to shy away from supporting its local entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, business entities in those countries are all owned by their citizens.

Here, the tendency is to support foreign investors, as if our local entrepreneurs cannot lead in the development process. Interestingly, these foreign companies are given tax holidays and room to repatriate their profits to their home countries, all in the name of creating a conducive business environment.

The Daily Graphic believes that if our local entrepreneurs are given incentives, the country will gain more, as the business entities will create more jobs and incomes for the people. For, even if the local entrepreneurs do not pay taxes over a period of time, the money still remains in the country.

We, therefore, urge the leadership of the GIPC to fulfil this pledge of motivating local entrepreneurs to give more support to the economy.