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AUGUST 2015 / ISSUE 051 GH¢10.00

ear y d i M ic m o n o ec offers reviewism but optim ality re ’t doesn

USA..........................................$5.00 UNITED KINGDOM.....................£3.00 EUROPE....................................€3.50 AUSTRALIA.............................AS5.00 CFA ZONE...........................CFA 2,000 OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES.US$4.00

After the DICs’ quit, can West Blue & CEPS perform better?

Yamson: The master corporate chieftain

THE FIRST BUSINESS READ IN GHANA

Follow us online at www.ghanabizfinance.com

CONTENTS ISSUE 051 / AUGUST 2015

CEPS will implement the national single window at the ports. That is after much controversy and finger-pointing preceded the takeover.

28 Word for word

Enablis Ghana promotes the creation of local businesses by supporting entrepreneurs. Shika Acolatse, Enablis boss, tells us about the organisation, its operations, and more.

32 SMEs & Microfinance 6 Briefs

Snippets of business and financial news trending locally and externally.

10 Economy

The recent mid-year review of the 2015 budget promises hope; but that hope may be misplaced.

12 Banking

Now that the High Court has given adb the green light to go ahead with its IPO, what will be the outcome? What about the future of adb’s operations?

16 Corporate Progress

40 Agriculture

The citrus sub-sector can be primed to shore up Ghana’s nontraditional exports. Paradoxically, the sub-sector is characterised by a high annual fruit harvest and simultaneous insufficiency of supply to manufacturers who require barely 15 per cent of total fruit output.

44 Business & Management

Ghanaians, copy if you wish! But

Diaspora tourism brings financial and social remittances to create a great synergy in overall tourism.

Ghana must value and develop Diaspora tourism by creating an enabling environment.

50 Perspectives

A change in logo, slogan and corporate colours are not brands in themselves; they are but components of the bigger brand puzzle.

52 Integration

Ishmael Yamson’s intellectual capabilities, professional knowhow and managerial acumen put him at the centre of Ghanaian corporate practice and in the thicket of the national economy.

Price wars are not beneficial, regardless of how you look at them. But conventional wisdom informs us that it is consumers who benefit most.

The Cedi has been picking up itself recently against the major convertible currencies. Some experts say the Cedi’s upswing will not last. This view is contentious.

47 Tourism

36 Cover

18 Finance

Why do SMEs heavily rely on MFIs for funds, even when they can be financed by trade credits, venture capitalists and other means? Addiction to microfinance may have negative effects on SMEs.

copy to improve and add value. It is bad to copy somebody’s work and make it look worse.

In this concluding part of this three-part article, the movement of people within ECOWAS, monetary and financial integration, customs cooperation, ECOWAS’ strategies for agricultural modernisation and industrialisation, political direction, diplomatic relations and historical background are examined.

56 Events

Visit conferences to be held around the world that matter to you and your business.

57 Stats & Indices

Figures speak louder than words for Ghana’s economy.

58 Commodities

Know the prices of agricultural produce in selected markets, as researched and compiled by Esoko.

22 Candlesticks are useful. They

show the price movements in a certain period by using the trading day’s open, high, low and close.

Editor’s Note:

24 Trade

The operations of Destination Inspection Companies (DICs) come to an end on August 31.

From September 1, West Blue and

Tema Port: Page 24

Find us online at www.ghanabizfinance.com All information contained within this magazine is the property of Ghana Business & Finance and is not to be used without written authorisation from the publishers. Although every effort is made to ensure the correctness of information submitted for publication, the magazine may inadvertently contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Ghana Business & Finance assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this publication or other documents that are referenced by or linked to this publication.

AUGUST 2015

Please, the second part of the article titled ‘PIAC seeks accountability from government: Optimise spending of petroleum revenues’ will be published in the September edition of this magazine. Thanks for your patience.

linkedin.com/GhanaBusiness&Finance facebook.com/GBandF @ghana_business

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General Manager Josiah Spio-Garbrah jspiogarbrah@ghanabizfinance.com +233 264 510 396 Editor Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori editor@ghanabizfinance.com Senior Staff Writer Kweku Darko Ankrah kdankrah@ghanabizfinance.com Columnists Jerry Halm Dr Nana Ama Browne Klutse Contributors Martin Luther C. King Oppong Baah Anthony Sedzro Kennedy Addai Kuffour Design & Production Manager Benjamin Tetteh btetteh@ghanabizfinance.com Circulation & Subscription Jeffrey Dapaah subscription@ghanabizfinance.com Editorial Committee Prof. Paul N. Buatsi Prof. Kwame Addo Ms Johanna Awotwi Mr Gaddy Laryea Mr Ray de Bono Mr Nana Robert Mensah Mr Frederick Alipui Ms Dede-Esi Amanor-Wilks Ms Nana Spio-Garbrah Office Location Ghana Business & Finance African Business Media House No. 7 Lamb Street (off Farrar Avenue) Adabraka, Accra, Ghana Mailing Address P. O. Box O 772, Osu, Accra, Ghana Tel: +233 302 240 786 Fax: +233 302 240 783 info@ghanabizfinance.com Brand Advisor Dmax Studios in Malta, EU. (www.dmax.tv) Credits

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Ghana Business & Finance magazine is published by

Stop industrial unrests from crippling the economy Every country desires a harmonious industrial environment for public and private business to thrive as the citizens create wealth in freedom, propelling prosperity which inexorably engenders socio-economic development. This desire may be ideal. Misunderstanding between employers and labour leads to tension, which culminates in strikes. Unavoidable strikes may be, but some strikes are avoidable. That is when mutual understanding governs the industrial relationship between the two parties.

Naturally, disagreements between employers and employees often surface as they act in their respective ownership/management and labour roles. Industrial disputes, when they come about, are resolved by laws. In Ghana, the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) guides and regulates the relations between employers and workers. When disputes arise, Act 651 prescribes a conflict resolution mechanism. The Act has been hailed by some industrial relations experts as a very good law.

Nonetheless, the law has some defects that have not helped to douse the industrial sparks that, more often than not, occur.

For example, section 163 of Act 651states: “An employer carrying on or a worker engaged in, an essential service shall not resort to a lockout or strike in connection with or in furtherance of any industrial dispute involving the workers in the essential service.” This means the law subscribes that workers in “essential services” must always provide these services as they are debarred from embarking on strikes.

Section 175 defines “essential services” as “includes areas in an establishment where an action could result in a particular or total loss of life or pose a danger to public health and safety and such other services as the Minister may by legislative instrument determine.” Under regulation 20 of the labour Regulations 2007 (LI 1833) stipulates that “Health and hospital services” are “essential services.” Yet public sector professionals like doctors, nurses and pharmacists, whose strikes and lockouts could lead to “loss of life or pose a danger to public health,” put down their tools, without being punished for violating the law.

Also, section 138 (1) of the Act outlines the functions of the statutorily independent National Labour Commission (NLC) as “to facilitate the settlement of industrial disputes; (b) to settle industrial disputes,” among others. But the Commission is under-resourced, under-staffed and under-valued. That affects the effective operations of the NLC, as some disputants do not respect its recommendations at compulsory arbitration proceedings.

Furthermore, the un-expeditious attitude of the courts, where industrial disputes are referred to after compulsory arbitration breaks down, causes the conflicts to linger. In addition, the intransigent postures and positions of government, employers and Organised Labour, the tripartite partners, usually pollute the calm industrial climate. Government is too powerful; it is the largest employer. Lastly, GB&F somehow endorses the contention that the multiplicity of labour bodies leads to the proliferation of unions, thereby diluting the quality of labour leadership and dividing the labour front.

All the above causal explanations necessitate the amendment of the labour law. The review of the Act will remedy the defects and fill in lacunae. Perhaps, a revision of the knotty and sticky portions of the law could assist resolve the strikes, sit-downs and threats of industrial actions by public servants that occurred last July and in this month.

The industrial scene was: strikes here, strikes there, and strikes everywhere. That period could be said to be a season of strikes. There were strikes and sit-downs in the public sector involving psychiatric nurses, government pharmacists, doctors and state attorneys. The nurses have called off their sit-down, while the lawyers have suspended their three-week strike; not without a twoweek ultimatum. University teachers declared a strike on August 7. Not honky-dory yet: The Teachers and Educational Workers Union are threatening to go on strike. All these strikes may emanate from the Single Spine Pay Policy. Is the ineffective implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure really responsible for the recent strikes in the public service? Some experts say ‘yes’. The President’s warning that government would not engage in geted spending is rather bold and politically costly.

GB&F appeals to the good senses and humaneness of the representatives of the government and the striking public sector workers at the negotiating table. Reason, good faith, good will, give and take, mutual trust, and a win-win solution must prevail over haughtiness, obduracy, intransigence and brinkmanship. GB&F entreats the two stakeholders to resolve their differences in order to stop the industrial unrests that are crippling the economy, and deterring governance.

In the final analysis, when push comes to shove, the burden of reducing the strikes lies on the uneasy head of the government. Though the government may not be solely responsible for strikes as it takes two to tango, GB&F is convinced that the government has the moral duty to work out plans to minimise the occurrence of strikes. But then, we appeal to all public servants to call off their strikes and resort to negotiation.

Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori Editor (+233 024 2385374)

AUGUST 2015

Mail to the Editor

send your articles, comments and letters to the editor at editor@ghanabizfinance.com

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

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EDITOR’S SUITE

Season of strikes:

BANKING

adb to rebounce after IPO offer

BY ADNAN ADAMS MOHAMMED

Current happenings at Agricultural Development Bank (adb) is not pleasant to the eyes of the public while in the banking industry its present predicament seems disastrous for its corporate image. adb is suffering a deficit of public confidence as it tries to run its affairs without any industrial, financial and legal hindrances.

Stephen Kporzdi The Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers (UNICOF) secured a 10-day injunction on July 10 to prevent the management of adb Bank from proceeding with its share-sale in a controversial Initial Public Offering (IPO). Judicial compulsion railroaded adb to announce a temporary halt to its IPO. The Accra High Court later rejected the application for an injunction by UNICOF so the listing of adb on the stock exchange

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could proceed. Before the rejection of the application, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jumped into the fray, describing the interim injunction as a normal development that shows that Ghana’s capital market is growing. The SEC prayed that it is in the interest of the market for all the parties to allow the court process to take its course.

The SEC’s optimism may seem misplaced and unfounded. But Adu Anane Antwi, SEC Director General, explains: “We ourselves as SEC were sent to court over HFC [Bank] but we still waited for the court to make its decision, and then we went back to work. So in the same vein, let’s allow the court processes to go through and then we shall all be winners.”

Anane Antwi is not done yet: “I can tell you that cases in the US are many – about hundred times if not thousand times more than in Ghana because our market is small, you don’t have many of these cases. But as we are developing, and we are getting more companies and more investors coming in, there is a likelihood that some people will

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

raise some issues about some of these developments but it’s all part of the process. He further asserts: “And it’s also positive because after we have gone through them, the people are happy that in Ghana when there are issues about investment and securities, they go through the court for resolution.”

The SEC, the regulator of the capital market, approved adb Bank’s IPO after due diligence. Antwi emphasises that the SEC is officially unaware of the concerns of the workers.

“If workers had a case pending in court, that’s when it would have been disclosed in the prospectus for investors to know and make informed decisions during the IPO. But this is not a court case and so whatever concerns may not be too relevant. I don’t even know exactly what the workers’ concerns are but our job is to ensure that adequate disclosure of information is made by the company to enable investors make a decision in buying the shares,” he says.

Workers’ agitations Workers of adb have been agitating and calling on the government to remove

AUGUST 2015

Yet, some economists and industry players have criticised the central bank over the move, saying it would not be able to sustain the huge injections of cash and the move would not save the Cedi in the medium to long terms.

The central bank believes that “The stock of gross foreign assets at the end of June 2015 was US$4.5 billion, enough to finance 2.9 months of imports of goods and services.

“... one way to arrest the depreciation of the Cedi permanently was to increase the country’s exports, and not to depend on the stop-gap measures recommended by the IMF.”

Going forward, the anticipated inflows of more than US$4 billion from the Eurobond issue, syndicated cocoa financing as well as other programmed inflows in the second half of the year will provide a strong buffer and help sustain stability in the foreign exchange market ... sustainability is two ways, what we do is that we stand ready to support, sometimes you may pump in more than the US$20 million, sometimes less depending on what the market can take.”

Dr Wampah explained that the robust interbank intervention would continue and the expected Dollar inflows from donors, the US$1.5 billion Eurobond and the approved US$1.8 billion cocoa loan would boost the central bank's foreign exchange reserves. "We have raised our intervention significantly in recent weeks. This is going to continue and

Dr Wampah said the central bank, as part of moves to shore up the value of the Cedi, began pumping huge tranches of Dollars into the economy on a daily basis which yielded the positive results for the Cedi on the exchange market.

AUGUST 2015

we will do more as and when necessary to ease pressure on the cedi," he told Reuters.

The recent hurdles In spate of the recent hurdles that crippled the Cedi, many experts have proposed ways of solving the recurrence of such a situation. Alhassan Andani, a renowned banker, appealed to the government to correct structures within the economy to help stabilise the Cedi.

Andani, who is the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana, was of the view that the one way to arrest the depreciation of the Cedi permanently was to increase the country’s exports, and not to depend on the stop-gap measures recommended by the IMF. Andani argued that the release of US$20 million by the central bank into the economy and funding from the IMF and European Union (EU) would not help stabilise the Cedi.

However, Finance Minister Seth Terkper has given the strongest assurance that the Cedi would appreciate against the major foreign currencies before the close of the year.

Terkper based his assurance on expected inflows from the sale of another US$1billion Eurobond and a US$1.5-billion syndicated loan for cocoa purchases for the next crop season. There is also expected budgetary support from donors to the tune of about US$600 million, after they regained confidence in the economy, following the upbeat assessment of IMF about the economy.

But again, Doris Ahiati, head of research at Databank, has described the weakening value of the Cedi as resembling the pulse of a fainting patient. Ahiati said the Cedi’s weakness is a major problem for businesses in the country. “I think at this point in time if we compare the pulse of the cedi’s value to the pulse of a patient, it would be that of a patient who is fainting,” she expressed.

Samuel Kofi Ampah, the head of research at Groupe Ndoum, opined that until the fundamental structure of the country's economy is fixed, Ghana's wobbling economy would persist. Ampah believed the economy is import-dependent, putting so much strain on the Cedi. He was particularly worried that the country over the years has failed to add value to its primary commodities and continued to export cocoa, gold, and now crude oil. Ampah painted a daunting picture of the situation, noting excessive borrowing, imprudent government expenditure and capital flight by foreign investors were suffocating the Cedi. "When

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

19

FINANCE

the Cedi could not be guaranteed due to volatility in the economy. “The volatility is what scares people and not the depreciation because the Cedi’s appreciation is not sustainable; we may sail through this year but what happens next year, we give too much credence to the issue of speculation and hoarding of dollars; most people trade because this country has been turned into a nation of shopkeepers,” Thompson said.

FINANCE

Know about use of candlesticks in the financial market

BY MICHAEL LAMPTEY

“Whenever you can’t balance what you see with what you believe you have conflict.”

- Shannon L. Alder Alder’s words have been the issue with a lot of people who get to see online trading platforms, be it the MT4, the MT5 or other complex platforms on the financial market. In Ghana, something online becomes a strange tool that can vanish or be missing tomorrow. In the wake of information and communication technology (ICT) and the emergence of the Global Village, it is time to embrace new technologies that have been tried and tested with long historical backing.

The MT4’s software is by MetaQuotes Software Corp - a software company that produces online trading platforms for financial markets, and is registered in Cyprus but was founded and is primarily based in Russia. The company’s main focus is on foreign exchange market trading software, with its trading platform, MetaTrader, being used in over 450 brokerage companies and banks all over the world.

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How does MT4 work out the numbers?

MT4 ECN Bridge is a technology that allows the user to access the interbank foreign exchange market through the MetaTrader 4. Other third party software companies have developed Straight-through Processing (STP) bridging software to allow the MT4 server to pass orders placed by clients directly to an Electronic Communication Network (ECN) and feed trade confirmations back

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

automatically. Future Pip’s MT4 Platform is not designed by Future Pip or downloaded and branded with a company’s logo. The green and red strokes are known as the candlesticks.

Now, let us understand how candlesticks work.

What is a candlestick?

Candlesticks show the price movement in a certain period, which is ‘a day,’ by using the trading day’s open, high, low and close. A candlestick is composed of a box which is called the body whose length is the difference between the open and close, and thin vertical lines that are called the shadows above and below the body, representing the high and low prices reached during the day.

A bullish day with a closing price higher than the opening price is shown by a white (hollow) body; while a bearish day with a closing price lower than the opening is shown by a black body. The body becomes a short horizontal line when the opening and closing prices are equal. In this case, the candlestick is called a Doji, which usually signifies indecision in the market.

Though a candlestick conveys valuable information about the changes in a market’s supply and demand balance, a succession of candlesticks taken together are more pertinent for

AUGUST 2015

WORD FOR WORD

Enablis

promotes local entrepreneurship with expertise As unemployment is rising, Ghanaian youth requires entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, tools and start-up funds to create their own jobs. These are exactly what Shika Acolatse, the award-winning Country Director of Enablis Ghana, is helping entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs to acquire.

ANTHONY SEDZRO interacted with this likable SMEs development specialist who has rich and varied experience in project management, entrepreneurship, training and management which she garnered in Ghana and abroad.

GB&F: What does Enablis Ghana do?

Shika Acolatse (SA): Enablis, a worldwide entrepreneurial network, 28

was created in 2003 to combat poverty by supporting local business creation.

In 2009, Enablis established its first operations in West Africa in Ghana.

Enablis promotes local business creation by focusing its attention on entrepreneurs. Enablis is one of the very few organisations which are interested, above all, in individual as entrepreneurs rather than merely in their businesses. Enablis identifies

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

the founders of the most promising small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and supports them as they grow their enterprises. As members, they enjoy all the advantages connected with an international network based on sharing experience. As well as providing training and mentorship programmes, Enablis supports entrepreneurs as they seek financing for their businesses.

AUGUST 2015

COVER

Yamson: The master corporate chieftain

BY AYUUREYISIYA KAPINI ATAFORI

His unalloyed love for business and his success in corporate practice in Ghana for about five decades has distinguished him as the chief among the champions of business and industry.

It may not be incontestable to say that the heart-beat of business in Ghana is connected to this master corporate chieftain. It may not be untrue that every word of his is taken seriously due to his sobriety, style of speech and directness of purpose. Now retired, but refusing to retire, this corporate colossus has attained the illustrious highest place on the pedestal of business practice in Ghana.

P

olitics, philosophy, ideology, religion, law and sports made many men great. But this business hero has transcended these ideas, beliefs and practices to etch his golden-lettered name on the apogee of the pedestal.

His name ripples in many parts of the world. He is respected by peers and paupers alike with almost reverent fervour. His family, friends, followers, admirers and well-wishers come from far and near. In the world of Ghanaian

36

business, he is almost unchallengeable as his deeds and words are well weighed before he unfolds them. He is an icon who champions the cause of business hands on. In his presence, a mystique is detectable.

The corporate giants’ own intellectual capabilities, professional know-how and managerial acumen pushed him to the thicket of the national economy. “Perhaps one of the conditionalities they [World Bank and IMF) should have imposed

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

should have been a demand for a clear strategy to restructure the economy to grow value added manufacturing, services, communication, information technology and such other sectors of the unfolding new economy which have the capacity to drive sustainable growth and development,” says Ismael Evans Yamson, the drum-major of business and industry. That was in Accra in the early 2000s. Today, he can boast that he was prophetic. The country went to the Bretton Woods Institutions early this AUGUST 2015

AUGUST 2015

give the customer a memory to repeat.

To dazzle your customers and cause a change is a conscious and deliberate effort. I like the new African print designs on shoes, bags and fashion accessories. I am blown away every time by them. They are new, refreshing and surprising. Now, if you want to copy them for business, then deliver them faster, make them available online and do the unthinkable.

Copying to be inferior Everybody who produces original or improved products or service feels good. It tends to make some hormones in the body and mind make you feel superior. When a business consistently produces sub-standard products or services as against what is expected, it loses all the respect it deserves and slides into mediocrity and oblivion. When it gets to this stage, the business is only considered as inferior to those meeting and surpassing the standard.

As a people, we feel inferior not because we are less of human beings. It is because we have consistently demonstrated and proved to the world that when we copy, we cannot get it right. The proliferation of radio and television stations should have caused our languages to flourish but rather our children are running away from them. When a newscaster descends into singing songs during

news and becoming a commentator, shouts on top of his / her voice and makes news another battlefield, then what is the clamour in learning a language which is portrayed as violent and disorderly.

How then, do you sell these languages and make them international?

Chieftaincy is an institution which should have changed the course of our rural areas and cities, but rather chiefs are more interested in selling lands and showing off than getting down to improve the lives of their people. Who needs a KVIP and borehole in the 21st century?

Copying is good. Our world has been built on it, but it ought to be used for the common good through improvements and a conscious effort to make patrons comfortable. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, copy, but copy with the mission to improve.

The columnist works at Creative Trends, the organisers of the African SME Summit. Let’s continue the discussion at www.africansme.org.

Email - info@africansme.org.

Follow us on whatsapp on 024-4214165

GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

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BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT

to finance companies which will give ridiculous offers to make money off their clients and collapse in no time. In copying, you should have three goals in mind: to make the subject matter better, make your customers happier and to dazzle the stage.

Making the subject matter better involves investment of time, money and intellect. Do the needed research, partner with the people who have the know-how and do not be afraid to show your ignorance. Be willing to learn fast. Take time to dream of your improved version and see it come through.

A selfish person is one who looks at himself and his immediate dependents. As a business executive, you cannot afford to be selfish. Your ultimate goal is to serve a need in society which is most of the time used by man.

Fulfilling the expectation of your client is what will build your business and the respect your business deserve. By this standard, you are able to build strong customer loyalty to your brand, attract good talent and build a business which can survive you.

You cannot just copy and show it as it is or worse. Surprise your world.

Change something. If for nothing at all, improve on customer service; smile more, respond faster than the originator and look smarter. The surprise element to your copied subject is what will

TOURISM

Develop Diaspora strategically to make more money

BY KWEKU DARKO ANKRAH

Migration has been the primeval part of human histories, cultures and civilisations.

Humans are walking beings and their steps have taken them far. Indeed, the steps enabled humankind to migrate from one continent to the other, from country to country and from one place inside a country to another. In recent times, migrants in some countries, especially in the West, have had unique nostalgic feelings to retrace their roots to their origins, rediscover their true heritage and identity and contribute towards socio-economic development of their ancestral motherland.

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GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

AUGUST 2015

were used as springboard to resurrect internal and international interest in the slave trade. The promotion of the heritage of the slave trade with the aim of developing tourism to garner economic gains for the West African countries, which were then facing financial challenges, was deliberately planned.

In Ghana, the successful staging of the first-ever PanAfrican Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) and Emancipation Day brought a large number of people of African descent from all over the world,

Slave trade tourism The foray into Diaspora tourism in West Africa started in the early 1990s when the sub-regional governments promoted slave trade tourism. In this regard, the governments strategically supported UNESCO’s attempts to preserve African heritage. Diverse initiatives, projects and programmes were tailored to promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade found in the coastal towns of countries such as Senegal, Ghana and Benin.

The resources included old heritage and actual historical sites which are scarce, newly constructed monuments, memorials and museums which

especially from North America and the Caribbean, to the country. The extensive exposure by PANAFEST made the country an international destination for the African descendants in the Diaspora. PANAFEST seemed to have rekindled the desire of Ghana`s migrant communities all over the world which hitherto had never felt any connection to, or the need to, retrace their ancestry to enjoy the company of their families and friends. The twoway flow of visitations by African descendants who were sent overseas during the vicious Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and in the colonial era to Ghana, and Ghanaian migrant workers and students making trips back home

AUGUST 2015

signalled the beginning of Diaspora tourism in the country.

Diaspora tourism is referred to as a special and unique area of heritage tourism which involves the travelling of people in the Diaspora to their ancestral homelands in search of their roots or to feel connected to their personal inheritance. The peculiarity of Diaspora tourism is that, whereas most international and local tourists become attached to a destination after repeated visits, migrant tourists who have ancestral roots often feel connected to the people, culture and heritage of the destination before actually visiting the place.

Diaspora tourism, therefore, occupies an intermediate space between international and domestic tourism.

Within it are two streams of tourists: one which is made up of people who are more removed from the country of origin and may not be able to call on friends and relatives for food and lodging; and the other is composed of more recent emigrants who still have close family ties in the country of origin. The main focus is for the Diasporan members to play a role in the development of infrastructure and services that support tourism.

People of African origin, their descendants, their history and their culture are written into the DNA of their communities around the globe.

There is evidence that the African Diaspora contributes significantly to the development of the continent through a variety of channels, including investments and encouraging others to invest, entrepreneurship and knowledge exchange. These channels have been aggregated as financial and social remittances by tourism industry players.

Financial remittance Financial remittances - transfer of funds from migrants to relatives or friends in their country of origin - are now recognised as an important source of global development finance. They are the second largest source, behind foreign direct investment, of external GHANA BUSINESS & FINANCE

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TOURISM

C

hristina, a 49-year-old businesswoman of Irish and Lowland Scots descent, born and residing in Vancouver, Canada, wrote: “I think there is a place on this earth that has the collective history of your people in the very ground you walk upon. If you live in North America you understand that you have only a very tenuous hold on the geography. There has to be a place to which you have a stronger connection; that tells the myths and legends of your ancestors, not someone else’s. In this country we will always be immigrants, not really belonging in that very primal way.”

In search of “primal” connections, Christina has made two visits to Scotland and intends to make another with her daughter.

T h e numerous visits by migrants to their ancestry have given birth to Diaspora tourism, a sub-sector of the larger tourism industry phylum. As a result, some countries have rebooted their tourism thinking caps and attitudes towards the Diaspora by targeting their nationals and persons of these nations’ descent in the total tourism matrix.

Remittances and other financial benefits from the visitations of these two categories of Diaspora people can ensure that developing countries reduce their reliance on foreign loans and aid, and become financially self-reliant.