Business24 Newspaper 10 May 23

Africa could lose $25bn per annum as a direct result of the EU’s CBAM

larly import-export market for African countries, the CBAM could cause a fall in exports from Africa to the EU of aluminium by up to 13.9%, iron and steel by 8.2%, fertiliser by 3.9% and cement by 3.1%. If the scope of the CBAM is expanded over time, the impact could be more substantial, the report indicated.

study focusing on the implications of the European Union’s (EU) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on Africa has been released by the African Climate Foundation (ACF) and the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

The report raises concerns about the economic rami cations of the CBAM on Africa, as it is likely to hit the competitiveness of African exports, particularly industrial exports if product coverage expands over time. It also notes that the CBAM process introduces administrative hurdles to market access by African countries, which historically struggled to access the European market. The joint report sets out the implications of the CBAM for Africa regarding relevant obligations under international legal frameworks as well as strategic considerations for African countries, ensuring the CBAM is designed and implemented in such a way that is neither more trade restrictive than necessary nor discriminatory.

The CBAM will be introduced on October 1, 2023, with a three-year transition period during which only emissions reporting obligations will apply, without any nancial payments or adjustments. After the transition period, the CBAM will be gradually phased in from 2026 to 2034. It will initially cover imports

of iron and steel, cement, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen, and electricity.

“The CBAM aims to position the EU as a global leader on climate action and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 55% below the 1990 levels by 2030. However, the proposal has faced scrutiny from partners like Africa, who question its compliance with Paris commitments and its impact on African exports,” says Carlos Lopes – the ACF’s chairman of the board and advisory council.

Africa is home to 33 of the world’s 46 least developed countries (LDCs), identi ed as highly economically vulnerable and confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development.

The report identi es that several African least developed countries would be among those most impacted by the application of the CBAM. In a hypothetical scenario in which the CBAM was applied to all imported products, 11 African LDCs would be forecasted to experience a moderate to a large negative impact on their GDP by more than 1.5& and up to 8.4%.

Then, in a hypothetical model in which the CBAM was applied to all imports, the report forecasts it to reduce total exports to the EU from African countries by 5.72% and to reduce Africa’s GDP by 1.12% (equivalent to E31 billion in 2021 levels of African GDP). Given that the EU is a particu-

“When the CBAM was under consideration, an exemption for LDCs and vulnerable economies was considered, but ultimately decided against by the EU. Instead, the European Parliament called for the EU to provide nancial support, at least equivalent in nancial value to the revenues generated by the sale of CBAM certicates, to support least developed countries’ e orts towards the decarbonisation of the manufacturing industries.

However, the EU has committed CBAM revenues to its Innovation Fund, which seeks to support innovative techniques, processes, and technologies, including the scaling up of such techniques, processes and technologies, with a view to their broad roll-out across the EU.”

“This contradicts an earlier EU proposal to nance LDC e orts towards the decarbonisation of their manufacturing industries at the level of revenues generated by the sale of CBAM certificates,” the report argued.

“Considering the issues raised by the joint report, it is essential that key stakeholders engage in a constructive dialogue on the CBAM. The EU must acknowledge the concerns of its partners and work towards mitigating the negative impacts on African economies. At the same time, African countries should also take the lead in formulating measures to protect their interests and ensure their economic development is not hampered by the CBAM,” it added.

Stanbic Bank makes strides in implementing sustainable banking principles

fully integrated into normal business practice, the Board and Senior Management commitment is required. Mr. Amo Adjei said, “Integrating ESG and Sustainable Banking principles require commitment from top management and boards of businesses as leadership often view ESG and Sustainability embedment from a cost perspective. There is a medium to long term bene t of integrating ESG and Sustainability as sustainable businesses are now the businesses of the future. In Stanbic, the Board and Senior management are showing this commitment with the recent approval of a business case for the integration of ESG and Sustainability in the bank.

Stanbic Bank Ghana has reported improvements in its banking operations since incorporating the Bank of Ghana sustainable banking principles across its operations.

The ESG and Sustainability Manager for Stanbic Bank, Joseph Amo Adjei shared this at the launch of the Integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance (IESG) program by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in Accra.

Speaking on how critical the consideration and practice of ESG has been for the bank, Mr.

Amo Adjei said, “We invited the IFC to conduct diagnostics on the bank’s Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) in 2019 shortly after the launch of the Sustainable Banking Principles. Steady work has been done to close the identi ed gaps and to put the bank towards a path to attain full compliance with the BoG Sustainable Banking Principles.

The IFC diagnostics report came in handy in 2020 during the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic as we had to make a

case to the KFW development bank to support the bank’s SME clients under the KFW grant program. The grant fund of Euro6M was used to support our SME clients with the payment of salaries and other working capital needs with the largest bene ciary being clients in the educational sector as they were hardest hit by the pandemic.

He further noted that for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) to be

The IESG is an initiative of the IFC in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic A airs, SECO. The programme is also expected to give nancial institutions the tools to better address and assess risks and improve their sustainability and long-term performance. Through the ESG program for Ghana, IFC and the Bank of Ghana will support banks in the country to implement the seven Sustainable Banking Principles and incorporate them across their operations.  The principles, launched in 2019, are designed to help nancial institutions respond to risks, increase transparency, and promote sustainability.

MTN appoints Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe as

Chief

Corporate Services & Sustainability Office

MTN Ghana has appointed Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe as Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability O cer (CCSSO) e ective 1st May 2023.

In her role, Adwoa will have oversight responsibility for the Corporate Services function focusing on Regulatory A airs, Sustainability, Corporate Communications and Commercial Legal departments. She will also serve on the MTN Ghana Foundation Board as Executive Director for the Foundation.

Commenting on her appoint-

ment, the Chief Executive Ocer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh said “I am excited about the appointment of Adwoa Afriyie Wiafe and wish to use this opportunity to warmly welcome her to the Y’ello family. With her rich experience in the corporate space over the years, I am condent that Adwoa will fully support MTN’s sustainability initiatives which is a new dimension of the business to realize MTN’s Ambition 2025.

Adwoa joins MTN from the Ghana National Petroleum

Corporation (GNPC), where she was a member of the Executive team with overall responsibility for Legal and Compliance and Regulatory A airs. In her role at GNPC, she represented GNPC before regulatory bodies, led the negotiation of major transactions, participated in the review of legislation, and served on various inter-governmental teams on petroleum industry related matters.

Prior to GNPC, Adwoa worked at the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Nether-

lands; Saah & Partners, Ghana; and The Special Court for Sierra Leone, a United Nations ad hoc war crimes court and has also consulted for the United Nations Mission in Libe-

ria. She is currently an adjunct Lecturer for the LLM/MA in Energy Law program at the University of Ghana School of Law, Legon and has contributed to papers and publications

at the national and international level.

Adwoa holds a Master of Law degree (LLM) from the Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Bachelor

of Civil Law (BCL) from St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University, UK; Qualifying Certi cate in Law (QCL) from Ghana School of Law and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Tecno debuts Camon 20 Series

By Eugene Davis

Tecno has unveiled the Camon 20 series smartphones into the Ghanaian market at a plush ceremony in Accra on Monday, with the range comprising the Camon 20, Camon 20 Pro, Camon 20 Pro 5G, and Camon 20 Premier.

These devices arrive as the successor to the last year’s Camon 19 series.

Brand ambassador for Tecno, Stonebwoy, an ace dancehall musician who launched the phone alongside a Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Michael Okyere Baa , Tecno o cials and other dignitaries said he was excited about the features of the phone especially its camera pictures.

All four phones pack 8GB RAM along with 8GB virtual RAM. There is 256GB native storage onboard except for the Camon 20 Premier which packs 512GB storage. The smartphones also feature a heat dissipation system that prevents heating. The newly introduced device has already received a global

award based on design. The Camon 20 Series picked up the prestigious MUSE Design Awards 2023 as a gold winner in the Product Design of Telecommunications category.

Tecno has engraved a three-dimensional luxury lychee-pattern back cover material of Magic Skin while integrating sapphire-grade nanocrystalline ceramic into the construction of the device’s back cover. Despite the amazing visual aesthetics of the TECNO CAMON 20 series, the user experience is also impeccable with the introduction of the newest material technology This new mobile device comes with a robust built-in ngerprint sensor and also provides a double-face mode for sel es. Thus, one can capture both the front and back objects in a single shot.

MTN partners Tecno

MTN Ghana, joined forces with Tecno to introduce the all-new Camon 20 Series onto the Ghanaian market with spe-

cial packages for early bird clients.

According to the telecommunication giant, the partnership is a strategic one aimed at facilitating the accusation of the mobile phone for the citizenry with the intention to support the government's initiative of achieving universal smart usage in the country.

MTN comes on board with special o ers including an installment payments plan, a free monthly data bundle for six months, and free periodic airtime, among others.

Senior Manager, Commercial Planning and Analytics, MTN, Guido Sopiimeh, stated that the partnership between the two entities rst started in 2013 and over time, has been revisited when there is a need to provide a speci c service.

"We all know how the digital world is moving now, and Ghana is not an island. So, we want to aid in driving the digital agenda, because we believe everyone in Africa deserves

digital connectivity. We are aware that a ordability is the main setback for smart phones expansion therefore we entered into this partnership to provide a variety of packages that will make it accessible and a ordable to all and sundry," he said.

He added that MTN is a very innovative forward-looking entity and Tecno also happens to also hold a similar ideology which made the partnership seamless because they have varieties of products for di erent segments of the market.

Kumasi Branch Marketing Manager, Tecno Ghana, Solomon Amoako, emphasized that the phone is made to suit the need of the youth who are more into the usage of mobile phones for quality pictures and videos.

He mentioned that the Camon 20 Series should be recognized as a major milestone in mobile phone advancement in the country and the sub-region.

Working capital financing helps shea women’s group bounce back after COVID-19 setbacks

expanded nancing targets.

In 2021, Toende provided $373,074 of nancing to 66 women’s groups in the Bawku West District. Toende’s partnership with MFA helped the bank realize its new strategy to increase nancing to female-led enterprises including small-scale producers and processors such as the Kusanaba Women’s Group through nancial literacy training and integration into the formal nancial sector.

“Participation in the MFA PfR incentive grant and training programs in uenced our decision to increase agricultural lending in 2021 by 100% with over 70% loans disbursed to women-led agribusinesses and groups within the target value chains,” said Lincoln Winimi Peedah, Toende Rural Bank’s credit manager.”

COVID-19 had a strong negative impact on the Kusanaba Women’s Group in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.

The group won a signi cant contract to sell the shea butter they process, but the pandemic depleted their nancial resources so they could not purchase raw shea kernel. Thanks to a rural bank with a strategic imperative to lend to more women and support from a local transaction advisor, the women were able to secure nancing so they could supply their customer.

The Kusanaba Women’s Group is comprised of 500 members, mostly widows. They cultivate maize and groundnut on small parcels of land given to them by their husbands or heads of family. The yields on their parcels are not enough to feed their families throughout the year, so they aggregate shea kernel and produce shea butter to supplement their income. They’ve been selling shea butter

to cosmetics producers in Ghana, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States since 2018. But the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic set them back signicantly.

“We could not process shea butter during the peak of the pandemic, so our output declined, and our savings were depleted,” said Portia Asumda, the Leader of Kusanaba. With limited nances, the group could not purchase enough shea kernel to produce the ve metric tons of shea butter which a Canadian customer ordered in February 2021.

Kusanaba sought advice from SAHA Training and Consult, a transaction advisor supported by the Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity. SAHA supported the group with its loan application and provided guidance on a repayment strategy. Kusanaba was successful with its application to Toende Rural Bank and secured a working capital loan of $4,251.

The loan enabled Kusanaba to buy 34 metric tons of shea kernel during the season so they could meet their orders and produce more shea butter throughout the year. “The nancing from Toende Bank was very helpful,” Portia said. “It helped us to pick up our business from the e ects of COVID-19. We have now invested the pro t made from meeting the order into a diesel generator to power our processing machines and mill our grains for meals at home. We have also been able to connect water to our processing center to properly clean our raw materials for processing.”

MFA’s pay-for-results (PfR) incentive and training programs o ered Toende the boost it needed to expand lending to agricultural enterprises, including women’s groups like Kusanaba. MFA’s partner nancial institutions with PfR grants pledge to increase their agricultural loan portfolios and receive incentive awards upon meeting their

MFA is a USAID-supported Activity that is working to make nancing easier to obtain and more available for farmers and agribusinesses in Ghana. MFA recognizes that nancing for agriculture will stimulate the growth of farming infrastructure, increase the country’s food security, and create sustainable livelihoods for the community. Through PfR incentives, technical assistance and training, MFA is linking investors, transaction advisors, and the agribusiness community for nancing to improve commercial agriculture in Ghana.

The women of Kusanaba repaid their loan in February 2022. Encouraged by the experience, the group plans to apply for a second loan to aggregate maize, soybean, and groundnuts for sale as they wait for the shea kernel season to purchase more raw materials for processing. The group also plans to revive and expand its ve-acre shea plantation to ensure the sustainable supply of raw materials for processing.

For 59-year-old Ayampoka Ayariga, the nancing presented her with additional income-earning opportunities. “I earned income from the sale of shea kernel that I supplied, from labor provided during the production of the shea butter by the group as well as from the share of margins made on the sale of shea butter,” said Ayampoka.

Members of Kusanaba Women’s Group clean shea kernels for processing

OmniBSIC Bank receives ISO Certification for Exceptional Information Security Management System

As a testament to our unwavering commitment to protecting our client’s sensitive information and ensuring the highest standards of information security and privacy, OmniBSIC Bank is excited to announce that we have been awarded the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certi cation for its Information Security Management Systems

The bank was recognized as compliant with the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard after rigorous external assessment of its information security policies, procedures, and practices, risk management processes, and the e ectiveness of our security controls. To achieve this milestone, the bank showed a continuous and structured commitment to managing sensitive company and customer information.

Commenting on the certi cation, Managing Director, Mr. Daniel Asiedu said: “The certication is another signi cant achievement for the bank as it con rms our commitment to providing excellent and innovative banking, characterized by superior standards of security, quality, and excellence. This is also an assurance to customers that their data is in safe hands and that the bank is taking the necessary measures to protect it. Our commitment to delivering exceptional levels of information security and privacy to our clients remains unwavering, and we assure all stakeholders of our continuous focus on excellence, information security, business resilience, and continuous improvement culture.”

Mr. Asiedu expressed his grati-

tude to the Board, Management, and Sta for their dedication in reaching this milestone and for the crucial role played by the Bank’s shareholders.

The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard is an internationally adopted code of practice for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS).

It provides a framework for managing processes and risks associated with information security objectives.

Attaining the ISO 27001 certi cation is an indication that the Bank upholds its mandate to safeguard the con dentiality, integrity, and availability of its information assets related to our customers, processes, and technology. With the above, the Bank is poised for improved risk management and heightened customer satisfaction.

Vodafone honours Worlasi with “Green Award” at VGMAs for promoting environmental sustainability

Vodafone Ghana has acknowledged musician Worlasi Langani, popularly known as Worlasi, for his outstanding contribution to environmental sustainability by presenting him with the Green Award at the 24th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) held on Saturday, May 6, 2023.

The award applauds Worlasi’s commendable e orts to promote green spaces with his remarkable tree-planting project, ‘Giving Shade.’ In recognition of his tree-planting initiative to transform Darkuman

Nyamekye and other areas of Accra into greener neighbourhoods, Worlasi received a prestigious recognition plaque and a sum of GH¢10,000.

The Vodafone Green Award aims to support and acknowledge musicians who champion environmental awareness and sustainability through their music.

Presenting the award at the VGMAs, the Chief Executive O cer (CEO) of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, expressed Vodafone Ghana’s deep appreciation for musi-

cians who actively promote initiatives that protect the environment.

“Every year, we look forward to honouring musicians who contribute to environmental sustainability through their craft and resources. I encourage artistes to continue their advocacy because their e orts have a profound impact on people’s lives”, Patricia Obo-Nai said.

Following his recognition, Worlasi expressed gratitude to Vodafone Ghana for the recognition. “I want to acknowledge

Vodafone for recognising this project. Your platform is huge, and it’s going to go a long way to create awareness across Ghana for individuals to also start planting trees.” Worlasi said.

Vodafone Ghana has consistently taken a leading role in sustainability e orts. As part of these e orts the “Green Award” encourages musicians to use their crafts and resources to drive environmental awareness and sustainability of our planet.

Abena Amoah charges firms to list on stock market to grow to the next level

GSE, they focus on two things -access to capital and governance practices that insulate the company -ensures the company is there for the long term, attract the right investors and go through the di erent challenges that comes along.

Business stagnates from bank nancing

The GSE boss also explained that banks require transparency “if you don’t have collateral, transparency they will not give you the money, there is another set of investors called private equity angle fund -they will also support your business and that is where a lot of businesses begin to stagnate in Ghana, after they have grown with bank nancing to a certain level they don’t want to grow anymore.”

The CEO of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Abena Amoah, has asked more local businesses to consider listing on the stock market if they want to experience the next level of growth and transformational capital.

Speaking as one of the panelists on MTN Business Executive Series she said “The next level of growth comes from the capital market – we all talk about Dangote, a lot of his business has been funded by the capital market, all his businesses are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, that is where you go for transformational capital. That is where you grow to become the next 100m, 100-year-old company. You grow to become a case study as Columbia Business did on the Nkulenu industries and that for us is the governance

principle as well as the access to serious money because the cost of bank debts in Ghana cannot grow your business very far.”

This year’s Business Executive Series was on the theme “Building a Resilient Business in Challenging Economic Environment” and for the GSE CEO, building resilience represents longevity, adhering to good governance and taking advantage of the stock market to grow.

For her, some businesses and companies that have shown resilience and pivoted by changing their strategy, and stood the test of time have practiced good governance and incidentally been listed on the stock exchange, from Enterprise Insurance, Nkulenu, MTN Ghana, Stanchart Chartered Bank Ghana among

others.

“If you want to survive -what kind of governance systems do you have in place, a governance that makes sure that you are not the only owner, only decision maker, co-mingling the company’s resources with yours, getting advice from other experience people, that ensures that your business goes through the times.

According to her at the

And for her the stock market has 35bn cedis pension funds available for investment. According to her NPRA has reviewed the composition, the investment guidelines “so today it is opened for investments in the kind of riskier businesses, and as I said the reason, they must be on the stock exchange is because of the governance requirement to give the partnerships the con dence that the funds will be well managed.”

Rosy Fynn, CEO of MasterCard Foundation indicated that to

build a resilient business is to ensure that you have an accurate and good data “I think data is gold in the quest to be as resilience as possible and it comes with having approaches that make you a data centric entity in the good times, you

don’t wait till the issue start to happen then you gure out what is going on, what the numbers look like, what customers are thinking… one of the key things into building resilience is actually planning for it ahead of

time -ability to rise back up when issues happen, but it only happens if you have put in the work ahead of time -planning” she said.

The President of the Association of Ghana Industries

(AGI), Dr. Humphrey Anim-Darke says to build resilience has to do with resource sharing among partners in such turbulent business space -partnership.

Pure Earth marks world earth day in Ghana with a call for action on environmental health risks

Government has been asked to prioritize policies that helps protect the environment and the safety of people as the world marks earth day.

Country Director for Pure Earth Ghana, a civil society group that works in the area of lead and mercury poisoning advocacy, made the call when he spoke at a durbar of students and teachers of the Labone Senior High School in Accra.

“In Ghana, a variety of pressing issues make this day an important one especially around this time. The world is faced with a climate crisis with its attendant concerns for the safety of the earth and the people who live on it. Pollution in all forms, is at an all-time high with Accra, the

country’s capital, recording air quality which is 49.6 times higher than the WHO annual air quality guideline value,” he said.

The day was marked at the school to enable the organisation to take advantage of the large population of young people within the country’s second cycle institutions. More than 200 students attended the durbar together with teaching and non-teaching sta .

“We at Pure Earth Ghana have been working since 2020 to also draw attention to key environmental challenges like lead and mercury pollution across the country. Through our work with partners like the Ghana

Health Service, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) we are working to address some of these environmental challenges. Through Pure Earth’s Toxic Site Identi cation Project (TSIP), we have discovered more 205 toxic sites across the country with excessive heavy metal pollution such as Lead and Mercury. This has serious consequences for the health of the citizenry especially children and young people,” Mr Quansah said.

Wilson Baku, Technical Project Director at Pure Earth Ghana spent time to outline some of the popular practices in our daily

lives that could be a source of lead poisoning. He spoke about the use of some cooking utensils, broken down car batteries that are not well taken care of among others. Assistant Headmistress of the Labone SHS, Madam Adelaide Boye, bemoaned the need for students to keep to the highest standards of personal hygiene in order to protect themselves from such hazards. She also called for young people to play their own roles within their communities to help protect the environment.

This year’s world earth day was marked around the theme, Invest in our Planet.

Jägermeister’s Meisters Expression Festival in Ghana - A weekend of music, art, and culture!

The city of Accra was abuzz on Sunday and Monday, April 30th - May 1st as Jägermeister, the premium liqueur brand o cially rea rms its presence in Ghana with the Meisters Expression Festival at The Underbridge

The Meisters Expression Festival was a true embodiment of Jägermeister's brand values, championing progressive societal change and challenging the norm. The festival was all about living life to the fullest, embracing unconventionality, and being a Meister at what you do!

The venue was transformed into an avante-garde set-up with enchanting hues of green and orange lending credence to the brand’s perchance for standing out. The performances by talented artists were mind-blowing, and the ice-cold Kuhl Jägermeister shots and cocktails kept the energy owing all night long. Even the bodyguards weren’t left out as they showed up with masked

EDITOR: BENSON AFFUL

faces matching the theme of the event! This was not just a festival; it was an experience that left everyone craving for more.

Let's take a thrilling trip down memory lane and explore each day in greater detail!

The rst day of the event kicked o with the 'AfterDark Concert', with two of Accra’s nest Hypemen engaging the crowd and having them grooving to some electrifying music.

The incredible DJs, TTB and Baggio, took the stage and kept the crowd raving with their exceptional selection of tunes from across the continent. Things got even better when guests were invited on stage to show o their dancing skills.

The Verditer Entertainment wowed everyone with their acrobatic and samba performances.

But wait, it gets even more exciting! The night was elevated to another level with incredible performances of Niniola,

Efya, Young Jonn, and Stone Bwoy - who reminded us all why they are at the top of their game. The energy was out of this world, and the crowd were thrilled!

Word had spread like wild re that Day 1 was a hit and guests trooped in on Day 2 for another round of wave of Ice Kuhl fun and good vibes. The dress code “fashionably disruptive” was brought to life by guests as they rocked statement out ts that made heads turn.

Dancegod and his team took the stage and kept the guests entertained with their high-energy performance. But that was just the beginning. Sefa, iPhone DJ, and DarkoVibes also gave unforgettable performances that had the crowd begging for more. The Compozers wrapped up the night with a medley of top Afro-hits from Asake’s ‘Sungba’, to Davido’s ‘Unavailable’.

Another key highlight from the event was the art installations

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by walking artiste, Glenn Samm. Guests were awed by the incredible art designs in human forms as well as the wall art on display. It was truly a sight to behold!

Jägermeister is more than just a premium liqueur brand, it’s a movement committed to empowering consumers to take charge of their lives and become masters of their own craft to #BeTheMeister.