A four day event dubbed the Northern Ghana Investment Conference is underway in the Northern Regional capital Tamale.
As the third edition, the theme is, “Projecting the resource potentials of Northern Ghana for accelerated development: the role of Public-Private Partnership.”
The annual conference serves as a catalyst of promoting businesses and investment potentials in Northern Ghana.
The four-day event brought together dominant corporate players from Northern Ghana in the banking, insurance, Information Communication Technology and other businesses under the Small and Medium Enterprise categories to network and act together.
In his welcome address, Chief Executive Officer of Ridmut consults, Mutawakil Riyad encouraged investors to invest in Northern Ghana.
“Investment opportunities in northern sector are enormous: we are blessed with a lot of natural and human resources and if properly harnessed it could bring us out of poverty and deprivation.”
He regretted that there was no exploitation of the businesses and investment potentials in Northern Ghana.
“In spite of all these resources that we have there are little or absolutely no exploitation of most of this wealth.”
Riyad Mutawakil said his outfit will intensify its collaboration with development partners to rebrand Northern Ghana as the hub of investment.
Executive Director of the Northern Rural Development Programme, Roy Ayariga called for agricultural modernization to make that sector attractive to the youth.
He decried the subsistence farming practices in Northern Ghana for which reason efforts must be made to give farmers the right machinery and incentive packages to make agriculture in the north profitable.
This in his estimation could drastically reduce the mass exodus of rural-dwellers to major cities in search of non existing white color jobs.
Roy Ayariga said the Northern Rural Development Programme was constructing new dams and rehabilitating old ones to facilitate all year round farming in rural communities.
Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini admitted that government alone could not transform the economy and advocated the expansion of Public Private Partnership.
He nonetheless reaffirmed government’s readiness to eradicate poverty in Northern Ghana.
The Sagnarigu constituency Legislator cited the recently launched Youth Entrepreneurship Support Fund as one of the initiatives targeted at capacitating the youth to become industrious.
Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini called for behavioral change at work places to improve efficiency.
The Northern Ghana Investment Conference was initiated in 2012 by investment promoters; Ridmut consults in collaboration with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Northern Development Forum and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council.
Activities lined up for the 2014 edition of the Northern Ghana Business Conference include exhibition of products and services, investment and entrepreneurial development seminar, northern business executive breakfast meeting and northern business excellence awards night.
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana