GCDC rekindles hope for local entrepreneurs

By Kofi Akordor
There was ample evidence of the entrepreneurial acumen of Ghanaian industrialists many years ago.  Those were the days many indigenous Ghanaians were able to set up manufacturing companies whose products offered stiff competition to those of the multinationals manufactured locally and those imported from outside.
Industrial giants such as Tata Brewery Limited owned by Mr J.K. Siaw, the International Tobacco Ghana Limited (ITG) owned by Mr B. A. Mensah and Kowus Motors, owned by Mr E.K. Owusu, and Boakye Mattress owned by Mr E.O. Boakye to name but a few readily come to mind.
It was obvious that Ghanaian entrepreneurs were gradually building their capacities and filling the gap where foreign multinationals were unable to satisfy local demand and in some cases turning out products with superior qualities to emphasise  the country’s independence and industrial prowess until two violent military interventions sent local industry and entrepreneurship into gloomy darkness.
In 1979, after the military mutiny by junior ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces which some chose to describe as a revolution, a lot of local entrepreneurs lost their businesses and other properties and this aborted any dream that others were nursing to join in the effort to expand the industrial horizon of the country.
Strangely, some of the industries seized and confiscated from indigenous entrepreneurs by the state found place in the bosom of multinationals who were objects of attack during the coups of June 4, 1979 and December 31, 1981. 
Of particular interest is the case of Tata Brewery Limited, once one of the biggest breweries in the West African Sub-region, which after many tortuous routes finally became part of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, itself a minute part of the Diageo Family, one of the largest multinationals in the world.
With such a heavy blow dealt from within to the local industry, it was not surprising that even those who had the financial and instinctive ability to go into industry recoiled and the few brave ones decided to go into trading in imported items.
The state itself lost control over the industries established under the Nkrumah regime to give the country a starting  leverage in the manufacturing sector and either sold them or allowed them to rot just like that.
If today, after half a century of political independence, we have to import everything including toothpicks, it is because at one stage in our political history, we decided to treat local entrepreneurship with scorn and disdain and even made it dangerous for those who wanted to brave the weather and start something on their own.
The 1992 Constitution which restored the country to democratic governance grants us a lot of freedoms including the right to establish business.  But we are still not out of the era of political vindictiveness where people are not seen for their worth but more for what political lineage they are suspected to be supported.
Most of our politicians in spite of the loud talks of supporting the private sector as the engine of growth, are still prepared to front for a foreign company than to assist a local person to establish, nurture and expand a local industry.
In the last few years, against all odds, some Ghanaians are crawling out of hibernation and beginning to show the resilience and fortitude of the past to venture into industry and other major commercial ventures.
It is in this vein that the boldness and efforts of a wholly Ghanaian-owned company, the Great Consolidated Diamond Company Limited (GCDL),  to own and revamp the Akwatia diamonds needs to be commended.  Coming from the stable of Zoomlion, the company that has visibly made an impact on refuse waste collection in Ghana and other African countries, there is no doubt that GCDL will not be lacking in inspirational and managerial direction and competence.
Most of the mineral concessions have gone to foreign companies with the argument that we lack the technological and financial capacity and capability to operate mines.
Unfortunately most of our mining communities, especially Obuasi, once reputed to be one of the richest goldmines in the world, do not reflect  the reality of their natural wealth.  So, while as a country we paint a picture of mineral wealth to the world, our national coffers do not emphasise this.
Moreover, while our mineral wealth have made others rich we only suffer the consequences of mining, including environmental degradation and health hazards associated with the sector.
The emergence of GCDL may be the beginning of taking full control of our mineral resources and whose financial returns will reflect in the lives of Ghanaians.  No one is against foreign investment in our economy, be it industrial or commercial.  But where the relationship had always been that of master-servant with Ghanaians being the servants, it cannot be described as the best.
We challenge this and all other governments to go beyond the rhetoric and give practical support to entrepreneurs and private enterprises that have exhibited the readiness to face the challenge and ventured into major industries.
We must encourage local entrepreneurs to do what Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung and LG have done in South Korea or TATA is doing in India.  Maybe we should have been where they are today, if we had not destroyed and mortgaged our industries and haunted our entrepreneurs out of the country to die as paupers in other countries.
Even though history may be a guide, there is no need crying over spilt milk.  If yesterday, we lost Kowus Motors, Tata Brewery, International Tobacco and others to foreign interests who are reaping where our hardworking entrepreneurs have planted, today we must encourage and support the likes of Zoomlion and its new baby, the GCDL, and others that may follow not only with words but with deeds to attain, in the words of the late General I.K. Acheampong, “the commanding heights of the economy”.
If we have learnt from the bitter experiences of the past, then the re-emergence  of local entrepreneurial efforts should also be a re-awakening and a realisation that society thrives on its resources, both material and human, and no amount of foreign or external assistance will drive this nation forward if we ignore and even try to destroy local ingenuity, industry and resourcefulness.  We wish the people of Akwatia and its environs the best in this new effort to bring back life to the people.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com