Ghana needs policies that encourage investment — Lisa Opoku
The Chief Operating Officer, Technology Division and Global Strategist of financial services company, Goldman Sachs, Mrs Lisa Opoku; has urged the formulation of policies that would encourage investment in Ghana.
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Answering a question on how state owned enterprises (SOEs) could attract investments, she said “encourage investments in policy. Be thoughtful and generous in encouraging people to invest.”
The special guest at the 18th MTN Business World Executive Breakfast Meeting held yesterdayas part of the telecom company’s 20th anniversary celebration on the theme “Attracting investments to Ghana; Lessons from Asia”, Mrs Opoku stressed, “We need policies that encourage investment.”
The breakfast meeting, which attracted scores of business executives including human resource and accounting professionals, was sponsored by IT company IPMC, with Citi FM a partner, broadcasting the interaction live.
Laid back attitude
Making comparisons between Ghana, other African countries and countries in Asia, she noted that Ghanaians had a laid back attitude which sometimes worked against them in business.
Narrating experiences she had with some Nigerian businessmen, Mrs Opoku said they had a different mind-set because they were self-driven, fast and wanted to own any process that involved them, while the average Ghanaian reacted differently to opportunities.
“Ghana could be quicker in sealing deals. When you learn and internalise that space you could become a lot quicker,” she said.
Responding to a question on suggestions about how the Ghanaian attitude could be changed, Mrs Opoku stated, “We need to change structures but we cannot change anyone. We ponder too long, we spend too much time on the side-lines, and we spend too much time on meditation.”
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Investments, lessons from Asia
Shifting to the theme, she said “Asia being a participant in Africa is an engine of growth for the economy but we have to be careful because it is not everyone who is here for charity. They are here to generate profits and because they think it is a great business opportunity.
She therefore, urged that businesses market themselves and know how to negotiate well, what they were negotiating and who the right partners were.
Mrs Opoku said although it was a great opportunity to do business in Ghana and Africa it was also hard work and very difficult as the investor had to work on all parts of the supply chain and add to the total cost because the specialists and inputs were not readily available.
India and Singapore
She indicated that India did not allow their banks to come into the system and only worked with corporations and large companies in government.
“They have a concept of financial inclusion and you are forced to have some proportion of investment with the taxi drivers and the market people and so it is very difficult to just come in and dabble at the high end and take loans that are comfortable for you and not deal with the development of the overall economy. That is a great thing for Ghana to consider, she recommended.
Sharing key lessons from Asia, she said the level of discipline was alarming but she learned very quickly that in Asian culture children were pushed and they performed better when stretched.
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