Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable 2023 Magazine

THE 4TH HORIZON OF GHANA'S GROWTH

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Editor's Note

THE 4TH HORIZON OF GHANA'S GROWTH

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama

At Ishmael Yamson & Associates, we take

immense pride in hosng the annual Business Roundtable ‒ it is our way of making a meaningful impact and driving posive changeinourcountryandtheAfricanconnent.

Building the content for this magazine was quite a seamless process as we had a clear understanding of the message we intended to convey to readers. The magazine is enriched by the contribuons of trailblazerswhohavesharedexceponalinsights.

In recent years, our economy has encountered numerous challenges that are obvious to everyone. As argued by many, Ghana possesses an abundance of natural resources that have been touted as sufficient to help the country meet its needs Leaders have over the years also aempted strategic efforts to capitalize on the potenal of diverseindustriessuchasagribusiness,culture,arts and tourism, and the use of technology Although progress has been made, our ulmate objecve of meeng the needs of the cizens and providing themwithbasicneedsremainsawork-in-progress.

Whatcouldbethereasonforthesetback?

BUILDINGASUSTAINABLEECONOMY

We have failed as a country to establish sustainable iniaves that are able to endure in the long run. Countless promising iniaves have fallen through the cracks over the years, oen due to changes in government and other unforeseen circumstances.

As the world finds itself in unprecedented mes, there is a crucial need to build a more sustainable economy

AGRIBUSINESS AS THE LIFE OF GHANA'S ECONOMY.

Agriculture has long been the backbone of Ghana's economy, accounng for a significant poron of employment and contribung to food security Its importancecanthereforenot beoverstated.Ghana can capture more value within the value chain by processing agricultural products and promong agro-industrial acvies The promoon of sustainable farming pracces and the adopon of technology in agriculture can also contribute to environmental sustainability and resilience in the faceofclimatechange.

By adopng modern agricultural pracces, improving access to finance and markets, and supporng small-scale farmers, we are confident thatGhanacanboostitseconomicproducvity.

LEVERAGING THE AFRICAN HERITAGE TO CREATE WEALTH.

Ghana is now able to aract a growing number of internaonal tourists This not only generates revenue but also creates employment opportunies, parcularly in the hospitality and creavesectors‒anindicaonthatourrichcultural

heritage presents a wealth of opportunies for economic growth, job creaonandenhancingthecountry'simageontheglobalstage.

Investments in infrastructure, coupled with effecve markeng strategies, can showcase the beauty and diversity of Ghana's cultural tapestry Collaboraons between the public and private sectors, as well as engagement with local communies, are similarly key to harnessing the potenal of our African heritage and transforming it into sustainablewealthcreaon.

LEVERAGING ICTTOMAXIMISEOUTCOME.

Technology has become an indispensable tool for driving economic growth and development, and our tech sector connues to show promising growth. From improving access to educaon and healthcare to enhancing efficiency in governance and business operaons, ICT plays a transformave role in shaping the economy Access to affordable internet connecvity and the development of digital skills are therefore crical in ensuring that all segments of society can parcipateinthedigitalrevoluon.

Ghana can unlock immense potenal across various sectors by harnessing the power of Informaon and Communicaon Technology (ICT). We need to therefore create an enabling environment that encourages innovaon and entrepreneurship in the tech sector to fosterthegrowthoflocaltalentandaractmoreforeigninvestments.

In conclusion the adopon of ICT, leveraging Ghana's African heritage, and priorizing agribusiness are key strategies for building a sustainable economy By expanding internet access, fostering innovaon in the tech sector, promong tourism, and invesng in agribusiness, Ghana can achieve economic diversificaon, create employment opportunies, and improve the overall well-being of its cizens. These efforts will contribute to Ghana's development goals and posion the country as a leader in sustainable economic growth in Africa. Let us seize this opportunity to be the change we seek and drive posivetransformaonforgeneraonstocome.

by Winnifred Adjei-Mireku & Juliana Essel Ackom

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES

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GOVERNANCE, LEADERSHIP & WEALTH CREATION

In 2014, when we first launched the Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable, our purpose was to help develop strong foundaons on which to build much more robust economies in Ghana and Africa We decided therefore to focus on issues of economic growth, governance, and leadership, and how these must drive and shape Ghana's efforts towards building a fast growing, sustainable and resilient framework for wealth creaon, especially as Ghana had discovered oil and begun producing crude oil and gas in commercial quanes in 2011. Suddenly signs of the Dutch disease were beginningtoemerge,andthatwasaworrytous.

In the fourteen (14) years since 2010 Ghana's economic growth has been inconsistent, with high growth rates between 2010 and 2013, low growth rates between 2014 and 2016, high growth rates in 2017 and 2018, a crash to 0.51% growth in 2020 following the covid-19 disrupons, a recovery in 2021 of 5.36% and a sharp decline in 2022 to 3.5%. The forecast for 2023is1.5%.

This clearly is an economy without resilience and sustainability It is an economy which is overly dependent on a very narrow commodity export base but highly import driven, oen dried around by global economic developments. Sadly, for instance, even with Ghana's enormous arable land, the country is the most dependent on food importsinAfrica.

To my mind, two factors have accounted for this dismal and inconsistent economic performance;

poor governance and leadership without conscienceandpurpose.

Issues of leadership and governance in Ghana have been discussed extensively because of the impact they have had on the performance of the economy and the country's ability to create wealth on a widespread basis. The only period that Ghana has witnessed real economic transformaon was under the leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who had a clear purpose to build an industrial economy, a clear agenda to build Ghana's economic and social infrastructure and a clear understanding of how to build resilience and sustainability into Ghana's economy And he was in power for only nine (9) years!

While the disrupve military intervenons of the 60s, 70s and 80s created major setbacks for the

DR. ISHMAEL YAMSON CHAIRMAN, ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES

economy, it is even more true that poor governance and poor leadership have aggravated the difficules facing the Ghanaian economy. There is no administraon that has not been accused of serious economic mismanagement, greed, and corrupon And regreably our democracy has itself become a vicm of the greed and corrupon that have captured our leadershipinGhana.

The recent report- Understanding How Dirty Money Fuels Campaign Funding in Ghana- An Exploratory Study, Commission by Adam Smith Internaonal and prepared by William Nyarko and Kojo Pumpuni Asante of CDD- Ghana, clearly demonstrates how Ghana's polics has been captured by dirty money and excluded many capable and visionary young people from acvely parcipang in the polics of the country This is due to the prohibive cost of running for public office as the young men and women are normally unable to raise those funds. The example of the destrucon caused by State-capture in South Africa, should make it clear to Ghanaians that any f o r m o f c a p t u r e i s d a n g e r o u s a n d counterproducve, and we must as a naon fight it.

Aer sixty-six (66) years of independence from colonial rule, which we oen blame as the cause of our backwardness and lack of development, Ghana is currently a highly and unsustainably indebted and poor country Many thousands of educated and capable young men and women

cannot find jobs and are leaving our shores in drovesforhopeelsewhere,hopetheycannotfind inGhana.

Governance and government are meaningless if they do not create growth. Good governance and good leadership cannot be separated from Ghana's effort to create a wealthy, prosperous country The two are inseparable, and Ghana must make every effort to embed them in its governanceculture.

But even in the midst of this deep crisis, I believe that a return to prudent economic management, an embrace of good governance, and aggressive fight against greed and corrupon are possible. What remains is our ability and determinaon as a people to reject purposeless and rudderless leadership and elect leaders who can perform and who have integrity to lead our economic and socialtransformaon.

The Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable started this Journey ten (10) years ago and it is our intenon to connue on this path. We therefore invite you to join us, as Ghana embarks on a new journey to create an enabling economic and social environment in which its cizens are empowered and feel proud to be Ghanaians.

Dr.IshmaelYamson May,2023

OF GHANA'S GROWTH

This presentaon on Wealth Creaon as the 4thHorizon forGhana's Growthisintended to seed a review of the opons Ghana has to create an economic transformaon and interrogate some ideas and opons best suited fo r t h e r e c o v e r y, d e v e l o p m e n t a n d transformaon of Ghana's economy. A transformaon that moves finance, people, jobs in selected sectors from low to high producvity andasustainedresilientgrowthtrajectory.

We have always assumed that if we produce more, we will earn more revenue and with more revenue, be able to look aer our economy and cizens much beer. But the proof of 66 years of

MICHAEL HARRY YAMSON MANAGING PARTNER, IY&A

independence is that more revenue does not necessarily lead to sustainable development that creates resilient wealth The queson then becomes why we have allowed this false paradigm - that revenue equals development equalswealth-tostandforsolong.

If we look at agriculture in the last seven decades, we have paid much aenon to producon. However, private and public investments in technology, related sciences, agriproduct branding, commercialising value-added agriproducts, and developing global markets for the services and know-how built through the agriculture and agribusiness value chains, have been insignificant and not sustained Consequently, agribusiness remains a daunng exercise and therefore a low priority in allocang resources.Thisisinstarkcontrasttothestrategies successfully employed by Thailand, Indonesia, VietnamandMalaysiawhousedagriproductsand tourism to power economic transformaons

Largely, revenues from cocoa exports, for example, have not gone into creang new industries, rather, apart from the allocaons to scholarships, , the billions of dollars Ghana has earned from exporng cocoa have been spent paying for recurrent expenditure and in some cases on bare-faced corrupon. Lile wonder that the sector has failed to drive Ghana's development.

Where do we find new ways to create industries from the agricultural supply chains, in plantaons, in storage, in value addion, in branding, markeng our food to the rest of the world and export market development? These have the potenal to turn revenue into new industry-building investments that generate stable, beer-paid jobs and medium-term wealth. Though mature, agribusiness could sll be a source of long-term wealth. It is possible to maximise the residual value, earn significant surpluses and seed long-term growth in new industries.

The story of our heritage and creave industries is not much different. Revenues are mostly spent on low-value-adding acvies, employing few people in the sector and maintaining structures. Very lile has been invested in creave industries that help us tell our story beer to a global audience and generate profits in the process. I giveyoutheexampleofTheLionKing.Thestoryof Lion King originates from Southern Africa. Yet the story has been told to a global audience and commercialised by Hollywood. Hollywood has earned billions from films, merchandise, games, theatre products, and animaons Southern Africa saw lile of that money and the creators of the theme song earned no royales. So, what stories do we have that we can tell beer using different formats that can fetch us billions in revenues beyond inving people to visit Ghana? We can create new industries allied to the original baseheritageandcreaveeconomy.

Now considering ICT, Ghana sits in the West African sub-region where we sll have one of the best educaonal systems. We have the potenal to leverage the brain power of our academia and students, parcularly in the relavely new areas

of ICT and technology. Yet, students from across the region who graduate from places like Ashesi University, having developed ICT and technology soluons for Africa and the world, leave yearly without the opportunity to register and build their ideas into businesses in Ghana. Today, we are dependent on soluons created outside our region based on the needs of other sociees and cultures. All governments have overtaxed and inhibited the growth of ICT and technology industries rather than incubang technology firms and ICT soluons relevant to the needs of our market, the daily realies of our cizens and solving global problems. It will be beer to untax technology and demand that firms heavily reinvest their profits to smulate new technology industries.

WhyFocusonWealthCreaon?

My view is that rather than pursue revenue as an end in itself, it is even more important to decide how we will invest revenue in new spheres of high-value enterprise to generate stable, highquality revenue streams that bring resilience to the economy I agree with the view that Wealth Creaon means a sustainable acquision and accumulaon of resources to compevely generate relevant output and financial flows to aain naonal development goals that fulfil the needs of cizens without compromising the ability of future generaons to meet their own needsii. This sort of Wealth Creaon indelibly improvesthequalityoflifeforallcizens.

Post-pandemic and debt default, there is an openingtoresettheeconomy.

Embracing Wealth Creaon as the development model for Ghana is right for many reasons, includingtherecognionthat:

1. the days of one-size-fits-all soluons and exporng unprocessed cocoa, metals and fish; and lile processed and illegal mber are no longer viable in the new global economic p a ra d i g m G h a n a s h o u l d e m b ra c e differenated paths to its wealth creaon goals and the managers of the economy must implement customised wealth creaon strategiesforselectedindustries.

2. to remain relevant and compeve in global markets requires a diversified reservoir of intellectual property, patents, innovaon, and value-addionthatis'Made-in-Ghana'.

3. sustainable profits and savings determine the pace of investments in human capital developments and innovaons to create new anchor technologies that will maximise the speed, scale and longevity of economic transformaon.

To paraphrase Dr Seyram Kawor of the UCC, “no country borrows to develop. Borrowingmust only supplement a country's own accumulaon of its own resources and revenues.” Therefore, amid global volality, a fluctuang Cedi, vanishing domesc savings and investments, and emped naonal reserves, we have to step back and urgently

(1) priorise creang resilient wealth with robustbufferstocontainmajorshocks.

(2) determine a new vision for wealth creaon and

(3) decide how to achieve material i m p r o v e m e n t a n d q u a l i t a v e transformaon for the benefit of cizens nowandintothefuture.

Letmeexplainwhy.

CHANGEISUPONUS:OPPORTUNITIESABOUND

As in Africa and the developing world, Ghana's economy straddles centuries of economic revoluon from the mechanisaon of agriculture, the development of industry, the rise of services, and the knowledge economy powered by communicaons, arficial intelligence, nanotechnology and biosciences Ghana's economy is integrated with the global economy through global trade and financial markets and the intertwining of our economy with these powerful economic systems opens up new opportunies for growth and wealth creaon. Ghana has an opportunity in the coming decades to harmonise all four revoluons to accelerate economic transformaon and wealth creaon. There is no beer me than now when we have been presented with the “historic opportunity to

dosowiththeAfricaFreeTradeConnentalArea” toquotetheWorldBank.

CHANGEISUPONUS:DOMESTICDISLOCATIONS

On the other hand, we have all witnessed worldwide economic disrupons since 2020, and the slide of Ghana's economy into an unprecedented economic abyss that we are beginning to understand began as early as 2018. The ongoing collapse and uncertainty generated connue to spook financial markets, slow investment and ulmately economic acvity into the medium term Perversely, if the global recovery connues to strengthen and as policies to frame the new global economic order are normalised, an emerging economy such as Ghana, can expect the process to expose its economy to external shocks and adverse spillovers, even as we strive to remain a viable player in key global economic systems – unless we build a more robust economy Just as Winston Churchill advised, we should not waste this crisis. Itisanopportunitytoremodeltheeconomy.

CHANGEISUPONUS:FUTUREDEVELOPMENTS

Three major developments are predicted between now and 2040 in the November 2021 World Bank Country Economic Memorandum tled Ghana Rising: Accelerang Economic Transformaon and Creang Jobs; (a) Ghana's populaon will rise to 45 million (b) six in every ten people will be less than 30 years old, and (c) about 10 million young Ghanaians will join the labour force and must be gainfully engaged. It notes that "Ghana faces an acute challenge of generang more and beer jobs and has a 'missing middle' of employment in midproducvity sectors". However, all is not lost. The report further acknowledged that Ghana has all it takes to connue being an economic development star if it takes the right steps to nurture growth and job creaon despite the debilitang effect of the pandemic. And I will add even more crically restoring prudent economic management. Specifically, the World Bank highlighted;

(1) macroeconomicstability,

(2) financialsectordevelopment,

(3) technologicaltransformaon,

(4) fosteringgreaterglobalintegraon, and I will addasakeypoint,

(5) restoring a robust governance architecture to underpinthefourpriories

AWALKDOWNMEMORYLANE

In the Post-World War II process of wealth creaon, sub- Saharan Africa along with parts of the Middle East, the former Communist-Socialist bloc and Lan America lost ground in various degrees to the winners like France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and then, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Chinaiii. Some heavily-endowed naons and regions mismanaged their blessingsiv whilst countries with precious lile became adept at sustainably acquiring and accumulang resources and improving the lives of their people indelibly We know where Ghana fits in this picture.

Let us step briefly into 1957 to hear Victor Adams' describe the hope and opmism for a beer future when church bells rang across the city of Accra to signal the birth of modern Ghana, to the e-newsleer UN Africa Renewal. He was in his home village of Shiashi, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital. Shiashi had no electricity, roads or piped water There were only eight mud houses in the enre village. Shiashi and its surrounding areas have since been transformed but signs of underdevelopment sll abound, including poor sanitaon, unpaved roads and makeshi homes. In a way, the story of Shiashi reflects Ghana's uneven economic and social development over the years. A middle school student at the me of independence, Mr Adams said, "Our country could have done beer." Many Ghanaians share thatsenment.

Ghana requires a new economic model to translate resources and revenues into resilient WealthCreaon.

Ghana cannot create wealth by just earning more money If that were untrue we would be rich from over 100 years of cocoa, bauxite and gold exports alone. The economy needs a new paradigm where we consciously reserve porons of our

earnings to invest in a connuous process of resource accumulaon designed to create parallel streams of income through private industry and human capital investments. It cannot be a short-term acvity Secondly, wealth creaon should have a clear intent to generate and distribute opportunies across all stages of priorised value chains. This clarity is crucial for the quality of outcomes from the allocaons of resources:

(1) for human and capital investments to produceabiggereconomy,

(2) to transform Ghana into a technology and innovaon-driveneconomy

(3) tosupportdomescindustrialgrowth,and

(4) tosustain,resilientlong-termGDPgrowth. Ghana as a developing country ought to be aggressive about developing opportunies through policy-making to aract investments We must support innovaon and producvity soluons that will enable the economy to generate wealth by aracng the spending and investments of both local and global consumers and investors. The “if we build it, they will come” approach of the Emirates is proof posive of the success of pursuing wealth creaon as a naonal objecve.

For too long greed and corrupon, self-interest, polical longevity, the desire for aggrandising , power and social relevance have been the main obstacles undermining wealth creaon in Ghana. These movaons end with the erosion of the well-being of cizens. Unfortunately, commentary on intangible sources of wealth like the environment, innovaon, intellectual assets, social order etcetera are underplayed and remain elusive in economic and sociological literature. And we dare not look to naonal glory and honour for inspiraon. Yet, these are what should strengthen the extent to which we produce sustainedeconomicwealthandgrowth.

The Alchemy of Growth - The Three Horizons of Growth

Somemes being a late bloomer has its advantages. Once the consensus bakes in, Ghana

will have a fresh canvas on which to define how to straddle the economic revoluons in agriculture, industry, services and the new knowledge industriesandvaluechains.

(1) The first horizon should aim to shi the core of naonal revenues to agribusiness by rapidly expanding the scale, quality and performance of derivave industries that either add value to or innovate around previously raw or lightly processed agricultural products. It should shi targeted investments to increase their efficiency and producvity. The same logic should apply to value-added cultural exports, tourism productsandotherbasicexports.

(2) The second horizon is the phase for selecng and resourcing emerging technological and innovaonindustrieswhichshouldbeatthe core of the New Ghana economy. A successful strategy will create self-funding growth from entrepreneurial ventures that will generate substanal broad and longterm economic opportunies very quickly in thetransformaoncycle.

The transion to technology and innovaon driven industries requires three major shis in culture,mind-setandfocusasfollows:

● THESHIFTINCULTURE

Ÿ SharetheVisionandCultureoftheFuture

Ÿ Clearly define the strategic direcon of the economy and society and get everyone deeply movated by and commied to the journey to transformlives;notjustchangelifestyles.

Ÿ Highlight the new naonal values and end the culture of seeing the naon's tolerance for mediocre leaders as infinite and embrace a meritocracy Demand changed behaviours to undergird the transformaon agenda in terms of personal responsibility and being accountable.

Ÿ Build the right habits to be a self-sufficient economy. Emphasise sound economic principles such as moderang consumerism and disciplined work-ethic, building compeve advantage across industries, low

debt,andbuyingMade-in-Ghana.

● THE SHIFT IN MIND-SET – STEP OUT. STAND OUT

Ÿ Develop Ghana Inc. as an economic philosophy founded on discipline, keeping high standards, andintegrity;theproteconofindividualrights, property rights, and the environment; and the supremacyoftheruleoflaw.

Ÿ Build ecosystems to promote trade and relaonships that reinforce our development andgrowthplans.

Ÿ Intensify partnerships in markets and knowledge that enable the economy to ulise natural and human resources more efficiently andeffecvelythanbefore.

Ÿ Break from the socioeconomic and polical norms in the African region. Arculate a bold, standout vision about what life, work and leisureintheNewGhanaeconomywillbelike.

● THE SHIFT TO FOCUS – PRIORITISE INVESTMENTS

Ÿ Increase the savings rate in the economy and make generaonal investments in mulple, long-term income flows; and break the false beliefthatfinancialsuccessispossiblewithouta disciplined focus on raising the rates of savings, (re)invesng, and increasing the levels of financial literacy and business skills. Ergo, put wealth creaon above borrowing and creang unsustainabledebt.

Ÿ Concentrate government spending on naonal priories and human resources founded on broad consensus, not polical iniaves and schemes that drive the cost of government but do not create value; do not waste naonal resources on short-term projects and conspicuousconsumponingovernment.

Ÿ Decide more strategically, whose money to use for what. Leverage the geopolics of today Blend the resources of private investors with those of emerging economies, the IMF and World Bank, China, India and the West in seeking financing to invest in skills, physical infrastructure, and business development LearntoGAMEandstopbeingPLAYERS.

(3) The third and farthest-looking horizon of wealth creaon, targets how to elongate long-term growth by leveraging exploratory investmentsinR&D;anddeployingstrategies and technologies to establish new agribusinesses, creave, heritage, knowledge and technological industries to secure five long-term fundamentals in the NewGhanaeconomy,namely:

1. Job creaon through the radical transformaon of the core sectors and transioning of labour with new skills into new industries with higher producvity –especially innovaon, ICT and business services. These more socially and geographically mobile workers also expand domesc trade, urbanisaon, and connecvity.

2. Producvity growth, intensified innovaon and entrepreneurship rates through domesc firms' adopon of digital and complementary technologies to accelerate the economic transformaon. To enable this change, The New Ghana will require r a d i c a l l y i m p r o v e d m i c r o - l e v e l infrastructure, internet connecvity and investmentsinawiderangeofdigitalskillsto facilitatetechnologyadoponbyfirms.

3. Inclusive private sector development that leverages domesc savings and financial resources to facilitate technology adopon, innovaonandtheexpansionoflocalfirms.

4 Macro and fiscal stability, beer natural resource management and smart, broadbased revenue mobilisaon to generate revenues to fund reforms and economic transformaon.

5. Long-term inclusive growth that incenvises sustainable exploitaon of natural resources, protects the environment and minimises the impactofclimatechangeonhouseholds.

LEADERSHIPISEVERYTHING

Leadership isindeedacrucialfactorinthesuccess anddevelopmentofanycountry,Ghanaincluded. It inspires and unites people, drives progress and economic growth, and makes posive changes in

the lives of cizens happen. The underpinnings of Leadership are the Values of leaders that play a crucial role in determining the success of any country's efforts towards wealth creaon. The values held by Ghanaian leaders will significantly impact the country's economic growth, job creaon, and development. For Ghana to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth, its leaders must exorcise the wicked torments of mismanagement, corrupon and greed; and priorise core values, the most needed of which are:

VALUES

1. Integrity: the self-confidence to act with honesty and transparency in all their dealings, whether in public or private sector roles to build trust and credibility with cizens,investors,andotherstakeholders.

2. Accountability: the humility to take responsibility for their acons and answer to the people they serve. This means being willing to submit to tough quesons, admit mistakes, and take correcve acon to securethefuture.

ATTITUDES

3. Innovaon:theforethought,ancipaon,and adaptaon we somemes describe as being visionary Add to that, invesng in research and development, entrepreneurship, and the passion to promote creavity that changes lives in all aspects of society and all sectors of the economy. This ecosystem enables innovaon, start-ups, and small businesses to thrive.

BEHAVIOURS

4. Discipline: respect for the new social norms, therule-oflawandarespectforme.

5. Inclusivity: invesng in educaon and training for all cizens to ensure fair access to the benefits from economic growth for all segments of society; promong gender equality, and creang employment opportuniesformarginalisedgroups.

6 Sustainability: priorising resilience from sustainable development pracces,

protecng natural resources, invesng in renewable and green energy and the longterm aspects of economic growth, when considering the impact of any policy on the environment, future generaons, and social cohesion. We cannot build sustainability in the New Ghana economy without building resilience in finance, supply chains, human capital,andbusinessmodels.

I set out to address five core areas that are crical for us to address and interrogate as we plan to move the Ghanaian economy from the chronic crises periphery of global economic and trade systemstowardsthecoreasfollows:

1. ending the false paradigm - that revenue equalsdevelopmentequalswealth

2. selecng and invesng in new high-value enterprise that bring resilience to the economy

3. building savings to invest in private industry and human capital to create parallel streams of income, resource accumulaon and investments

4 defining how to straddle the economic revoluons in agriculture, industry, services andknowledgeindustries,and

5. the importance of leadership values, atudes and behaviours as the core underpinning for thechange.

CERTAINLY,ALLISNOTLOST.

Wealth creaon as the 4th Horizon of Ghana's Development is a viable, credible economic objecve and I recommend further discourse on this.

Thank you.

Entertainment, Arts, Culture and Tourism

BRIGHT O. YEBOAH

CO-FOUNDER & COO, WIFLIX

Entertainment and media covers a range of sectors, some well-established in Africa and other products of the digital revoluon heralded by mass smartphone use. Newspapers and magazines, tradional television, live music, cinema, radio and street-level adversing remain strong on the connent, parcularly in less developed markets. Yet they are no match in the long term for new industries, including video and music streaming, internet adversing and socialmedia.

“The entertainment sector in Africa is sll very much emerging and we have barely scratched the surface of what can be achieved by invesng in African creavity,” says Bright Yeoah, Co-founder of Wi-flix B.V, a strategic advisory firm specialized in the African creave and sport sectors. The tech giants “know that their next billion users will come from Africa, which is why they are all invesng heavily in the connent's internet infrastructure”

Africa's youthful populaon, growing middle class and rising internet connecvity offer a growth opportunity for streaming services in the entertainment, arts and culture industry The connent's video-on-demand subscripons will almost triple from 4.89 million at the end of 2021 to 13.7 million in 2027. This growth drives the revenues to more than double from US$2.1 million in 2022 to US$3.97 billion in 2027. Nelix and YouTube hold nearly half the market at 48%, but these global players are being confronted with the first signs of market saturaon. The internaonal offerings aren't as aracve to Africans, since people prefer consuming local content. Hence, African streaming services such as the Wi-flix startup in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria grew from 300 thousand to over 1 million paid subscribers in 2021 alone. More established providers remain popular, such as IROKOTV and GloTV in Nigeria, and Showmax in

South Africa. These companies can offer large amounts oflocallymadecontentalongsidehigh-endinternaonal offerings.

Over the last five years, Africa has become a prized territory for mulnaonal streaming services in their ongoing bale for supremacy While many naons on the connent are, collecvely speaking, an undeveloped market in this regard, Africa boasts huge potenal for rapidgrowth.

According to a report by London-based intelligence firm Digital TV Research, streaming video on demand (SVOD) subscripons in Africa, which stood at around 5.11 millionbytheendof2021,looksettotripleby2026.This has been driven by the increased connecvity infrastructure throughout Africa, the proliferaon of smart devices and a steadily growing, young, tech-savvy populaon.

Streaming services, by nature, are disruptors. Their presence has already had a significant impact on movie theaters, terrestrial, and cable television markets internaonally, and now local streaming services are staking their claim, country-by-country, across the African connent. We believe that local players have the edge over their internaonal counterparts. That is because they are closer to their audience, have a greater knowledge of what they like to watch, and have deeper insightsintohowtheyconsumethatcontent.

We have learned a lot over the past two years. We looked at what the internaonal streaming services were doing and asked – how can we disrupt the

disruptor?

While our audience enjoys internaonal blockbusters, there is a vibrant entertainment culture across the connent that is crying out for recognion. Whether it is music, art, or film and television content, African people love to celebrate their local heroes and we love to consume local content Today, African streaming services like Wi-flix in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, and iROKOtv and GloTV in Nigeria, and Showmax in South Africa – are all providing large amounts of locally made content (alongside high-end internaonal offerings), and their offerings are proving more popular with Africanaudiences.

Nelix has even taken noce, pledging to invest R929 million into South Africa's creave industry by 2023, and has entered a collaboraon with EbonyLife to produce films for the Nigerian market Furthermore, local plaorm owners can navigate the entertainment terrain more easily, not just being more in touch with local audiences' tastes, but also being aware of the standards and requirements of the broadcasng authories in theirregions.

Content producers and commissioners have also taken note of the appete for local content. According to Disrupt Africa, African content start-ups had their best funding year on record in 2020, raising a combined total of $13.9 million, almost 19 mes the amount raised in the previous year and nearly 116 mes what was secured in 2018. With entertainment plaorms and start-ups seeing increased success, investors are starng to throw more money behind them, along with fintech, e-commerce and health ventures already in their porolios.

From a recent so survey conducted, It's safe to say that over 70% of Africa's youth populaon have never been to the cinema and yet this is a connent with growing deep internet penetraon of a vibrant, informed and mostly educated young people. Africa has more people of working age than the enre world combined I understand that 41% of the global youth populaon will live in Africa in 2030 and those numbers may double by 2050.

Africa's media and entertainment industry at a crossroad

From Instagram comedians to the telecommunicaons giants that deliver their content, the future of media in Africaisinfizzingferment.

Trapped at home in Nairobi by the Covid-19 pandemic and, like millions around the world, feeling isolated, Elsa Majimbo started posng short comedic videos to Instagram. Sing in bed eang crisps and laughing wildly,Majimboquicklybuiltadevotedfollowing.

Two years on, she boasts 2.5m followers on the social media plaorm; magazine covers; fashion campaigns; and a new home in glitzy West Hollywood. Like many African creators, from YouTubers and gamers to musicians and actors, Majimbo embodies the dizzying growth of the connent's entertainment and media industry

Amid rapid digital adopon, behavioral shis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, and stagnang Western markets for companies such as Nelix, YouTube and Facebook, the path to future growth in the dynamic sectorcouldrunthroughAfrica.

As a result, Africa's fractured entertainment and media industry finds itself at a crossroad. As African consumers devote more of their me and money to media, companies will need to be nimble. And while all agree that the sector is embarking on a period of huge expansion on the world's fastest-growing connent, underlying volality means many companies will be le behind.

Tothemthatshallbegivengrowth

Impressive growth in entertainment and media in Africa is being driven by the connent's most developed economies. South Africa, the most industrialized naon, is also the most structured market with an established creave industry and strong talent pool in film, animaon, design, gaming and music. It even has its own streaming service, Showmax The advent of 5G technology in South Africa looks set to boost the sector even more by increasing internet speeds and lowering prices.

Nigeria,withitsenormousyoungtech-savvypopulaon,

is Africa's entertainment powerhouse, dominang in music,film,fashionandevenvisualarts.

MeanwhileKenya,EastAfrica'seconomicgiantandstartup hub, holds huge potenal for entertainment and media companies. Last year Nelix released its first Kenyan series, a griy family drama called Country Queen.HighlyarscGhana,too,showsgreatpotenal.

Industry experts say smaller markets including Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire and even Benin could also help drive growth in the sector Dakar, Senegal's capital, has established itself as a West African cultural capital and a leading sports hub. And beyond sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt,MoroccoandTunisiaareshowingstronggrowthin gaming,visualartsandanimaonrespecvely

Sll, markets such as Namibia and Botswana are five to six years behind the likes of South Africa, says Fakela, largelyduetothehighpriceofstreamingdataandslower digital uptake – which leave people reliant on tradional media,includingnewspapersandradio.

According to mobile network industry organizaon the GSMA, only 28% of sub-Saharan Africans were connected to the internet by the end of 2020. In some third-er markets, Fakela says, the state sll has a big hold on media – though things are starng to change.

“The cheaper data becomes, the more you have audiences coming through,” he said. “That will create a lot more fragmentaon, but I think it will drive down the costofmedia.”

Lora-Mungai says that Africa's entertainment industry is in the process of structuring itself. “About five years ago, governments and development financial instuons, such as Afreximbank, the Internaonal Finance Corporaon, the Agence Française de Développement and its subsidiary Proparco, and the African DevelopmentBank–allthesestartedlookingseriouslyat the creave sector as a source of growth and job creaon,”shesays.

Monesaononthemove

Meanwhile, improvements in internet penetraon, smartphone ownership, online payments and monesaon tools have given African creators access to the global online marketplace. During the pandemic, plaorms such as Instagram and YouTube made monesaon tools, such as mobile payments and adverts,accessibletoAfricancreators,shesays.

As a result, entertainment and media revenue has grown strongly in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya since 2021 as all three major markets emerged from the pandemic, according to a report by global consultancy firm PwC. Yet Covid-19 also exposed fractures in the industry, with some sub-sectors benefing from behavioral shis and others losing out. Some former niche segments, such as gaming, have become more prominent for instance, while some established sectors such as newspapers are ontheslide.

Adversing was hit hardest by the pandemic, but has experienced the largest rebound since, with internet adversing set to grow rapidly in the coming years. The PwC report claims that 79.7% of entertainment and media revenue gained in South Africa by 2026 will come from internet adversing, as consumers spend more and more of their me online and adversers follow “I think the compeon then in the next five to ten years is likely to be between Google and Facebook versus Nelix or Amazon Prime, as opposed to Nelix versus the local statebroadcaster,”saysFakela.

Other sectors well posioned for rapid growth include music and video streaming, whose revenue growth by 2026 is expected to outpace tradional TV subscripons in Africa's biggest markets – although TV will remain much larger. In Kenya, for instance, streaming revenue is expected to total $8.8m in 2026, while TV subscripon revenue will total $420m, according to PwC. Similarly, music streaming is the fastest-growing component in Nigeria's music market with the country's arsts, including Burna Boy and Wizkid, topping charts around theworld.

CanAfricaenterthemetaverse?

By contrast, newspapers and magazines are expected to seetheirmarketsharefall.Cinemascouldalsostrugglein the long term, amid rising streaming usage – though box office revenue in South Africa remains strong. For now, cinemas are springing up in cies like Dakar and Nairobi, cateringtoagrowingAfricanmiddleclass.

In the connent's biggest markets, a boost is coming down the track in the form of 5G (fih generaon) mobile data technology, which should usher in cheaper and higher-quality lag-free streaming, cloud gaming and virtual reality. South Africa is on the brink of 5G adopon, aer a series of spectrum aucons. Nigeria heldasuccessfulspectrumauconin2021.

“5G is going to play a huge role because I think it will significantly reduce the costs of being connected,” says Fakela.“Iseeitasalsoaneconomicenabler,becauseyou have new businesses coming onstream as a result of faster connecvity, and connecvity in areas that were previouslyunderserved.”

Originalityandauthencitywillbreedsuccess

Those that will succeed in Africa's fragmented media and entertainment industry will be those that give African consumers what they want, rather than repurposing Western content for Africa. Nowhere is that trend clearer than in streaming, where the likes of Nelix, Amazon Prime and Spofy have begun taking Africaseriously

Today, Nelix offers a vast content library, while Showmax has a slate of African originals and global sports coverage. Disney+ launched in South Africa last May,andhasafootholdinMorocco,Egypt,Algeria,Libya and Tunisia. Amazon Prime Video, meanwhile, launched a local service in Nigeria in August allowing customers to purchase subscripons in Naira, and has established dedicated country teams for Nigeria and South Africa. Similarexpansionhasoccurredinmusicstreaming.

In turn, local companies are receiving record amounts of funding. According to Disrupt Africa, African entertainment startups recorded their best ever funding year in 2020, raising $13.9m, mostly from venture capital firms. It comes as streaming signups start to slow downinsaturatedwesternmarkets.

There is sll some way to go, however Streaming giants are sll keen to match their investments to expected returns, Lora-Mungai says, causing African creators to grumble that budgets are sll too low compared to elsewhere.

The bale between streaming giants to boost their African customer bases shows the entertainment and media industry's trajectory, which is being set by the desires of African consumers. With low barriers to entry, consumers have a huge variety of content and services

available in their price range. Companies, meanwhile, must bale intense compeon and connual disrupon to stay relevant. For those that do so successfully,thepay-offwillbeenormous.

Science,TechnologyandInnovaon,ICT

The third Senior Experts Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovaon and the African Transformaon Agenda (SED 2016) ended in Pretoria with experts agreeing African governments need to do more to support innovaon, especially by young people intheirrespecvecountries.

The SED 2016, aended by experts from 21 African countries, including representaves from universies, Member States and cies, sought, among other things, to help African countries idenfy the main opportunies and challenges at different policy and organizaonal levels for leveraging and maximizing the rapid rise of cies, including the rise of mega-cies on the connent todriveinnovaonandinvenon.

The 2016 SED was held under the theme “Cies as Innovaon

HubsforAfrica'sTransformaon”

The three-day meeng, hosted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Republic of South Africa, idenfied key elements and issues, based on local as well as internaonal experience, that African governments, along with their internaonal development partners, can take into account in formulang acon plans to turn their cies from manufacturing and trade hubs into innovaon hubs and centers.

African cies were already innovave but the sad thing was that governments were sll unable to close the gap betweenwhattheyspendonresearchanddevelopment and the new innovaons that can address some of the problemsfacingAfrica'scies.

There is a lot happening in Africa, so much potenal and untapped sectors that I think we can harness by going into strategic partnership. Africa is on the rise, let's support the young with the right environment and mentorshipthatwillmakeAfricaproud.

By Bright O. Yeboah, Co-Founder of Wi-Flix B.V

Arts, Culture and Tourism

Arts, Culture and Tourism although closely intertwined are sll separate sectors with disnct roles. Each requires a separate treatment to unravel an aspect of their funcon and impact on society For coherence, this arcle will focus on tourism development with the tacit understanding that arts and culture are important enablers of tourism. Thus, there can´t be any meaningful development in tourism

without a meaningful development in arts and culture.

Ghana,afavouriteholidaydesnaon?

It would seem the world descends on Ghana every December Thousands of holiday makers fly in to enjoy themselves in a variety of fun filled acvies.Theycomefortheconcerts,thepares, the tours and the general cultural emersion. Social media lights up with their comments, pictures and videos; feeding into the frenzy of a ¨DecemberinGhana¨astheplacetobe.

December is only a culminaon of yearlong acvies as a steady stream of tourists fly into the country throughout the year Notable among the inflows are popular American celebries whose visits help to push the hype of desnaon Ghana. This impression is further bolstered by a lot of internaonal media aenon, whether organic or organised. Ghana oen comes up in all sorts of publicaons and news reports as an important touristdesnaoninAfrica.

With so much aenon on the country, it is not uncommon to see social media comments from cizens of neighbouring countries, parcularly Nigeria, berang their governments for failing to orchestrate such excitement about their own countries. They would oen wonder what Ghana isdoingrightthattheyaren't?

It would appear that one iniave, in recent mes, the Ghanaian government got right was the Year of Return (YOR) implemented in 2019 to

CHIEF MOOMEN POET, PLAYWRIGHT & CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR

mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in America. It was a PR success which helped to spur a renewed interest in the country. The private sector took advantage to launch new programmes or intensify exisng ones. Major cultural and musical concerts such as Afrochella (now AfroFuture), Afronaon and The Black Star Fesval have all leveraged the iniave.

With all the excitement around Ghana and the many acvies and iniaves promong Ghana as a major tourist desnaon in Africa, one would imagine that the country will rank high as one of the connent´s major tourist desnaons. But, it does not. Ghana does not even feature in the top 10desnaonsinAfrica.

In the United Naons World Tourism Organisaon´s 2019 rankings, the top three most visited countries in Africa were Egypt (13.0 million visitors), Morocco (12.9 million) and South Africa (10.2 million). The boom three were Ivory Coast (2.0 million), Kenya (1.9 million) and Botswana (1.7 million). In-between were Tunisia (9 4million), Algeria (2 4million), Zimbabwe (2 3million) and Mozambique (2 million).

In comparison, Ghana received a lile over one million visitors in 2019 according to figures released by the Ghana Tourism Authority. In the authority´s last report for 2022, total visitaons stood at 914,892. It is quite clear that Ghana in nowhere near the big boys when it comes to tourisminAfrica.

HighontheNumbers

In the excitement following up from the Year of Return (YOR), many government officials bandied figures about that sought to create the impression of an unprecedented growth in Ghana´s tourism in order to claim as much

polical dividends as possible. Official sources revealed that Ghana cashed in 1.9 billion dollars as a result of the YOR This figure was widely quoted by many internaonal publicaons. The amount was, however, challenged by many experts as unfounded and overexaggerated. Policy analyst Bright Simmons, wring for the Africa Report in January 2020 stated that ¨the danger in elevang phantom figures to the level of truth is in the complacency they can breed¨.He stressed that ¨sounding the alarm about these widely publicised and widely believed numbers is the wish to forestall such a bad outcome and to movate the authories to see their successful markeng and communicaons strategies as merely the foundaon on which to erect a truly effecve sales plan for Ghana´s tourism and investmentclimatepotenal.

Bright Simmons is spot on with his observaon that any lile success realised so far must be seen as a foundaon to build on. For the success is indeed lile in terms of traffic. A surgical analysis of the figures will reveal that Ghana´s tourism growth is consistent with past projecons and that the current iniaves have not led to any dramac increase in tourist numbers. At least not yet. At best, a few tens of thousands more visitors might be the marginal increase in visitors as a resultofrecentcampaigns.

TheBoomsandBursts

Of course, one that does not expect markeng effort to bear immediate results But it is important to note that Ghana has had cycles of boom in its tourism experience followed by corresponding bursts. This will not be the first meGhana has beeninthe spotlight.In fact,right f ro m t h e in c ep o n o f t h e co u nt r y ´ s independence, there was great excitement around the country. Ghana was a mecca for freedom fighters and pan-Africanist Many notable black leaders such as W E. B. Du Bois,

George Padmore, Marn Luther King Jnr, Maya Angelou and Mohammed Ali were all here Kwame Nkrumah´s drive for a united Africa also brought in many African leaders to Ghana. One can, indeed, say that in the late 50s to early 60s, Ghanawastheplacetobe.

The overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah and the subsequent military intervenons that followed created instability that would have affected visitaons into the country Nonetheless, Ghana sll hosted one of the biggest concerts in its history, Soul to Soul, in 1971. It featured some of the most iconic American stars of the me—James Brown, Ike, Tina Turner, Santana, Wilson Picket, among others. The Blackstar Square overflowed with tens of thousands of people who came to enjoy the once-in-life-me experience. The concert made waves around the worldandhasalmostbecomethestaffoflegend.

Another important epoch in the meline of Ghana´s tourism drive is the Pan African Historical Theatre Fesval (PANAFEST) iniated by Efua Sutherland and launched in 1992 by then President Rawlings to encourage a reconnecon of Africa and its diaspora For many years, PANAFEST was a big deal and a major item on the naonal calender. It garnered a lot of internaonal aenon and became an important pilgrimage for people of African descent who came in their thousands. The fesval is sll on to this day, albeit without much of the luster in beganwith.

These examples are to demonstrate that there have always been moments of aenon and excitement around Ghana. Indeed, there is an organic pull of people, especially, the African diaspora, to Ghana because of the many enslaved people who were transported from here to the new world. And, also, the important role Ghana has played in the Pan-African struggle. Taken together, the various tourism projects launched

over the years and Ghana´s natural pull factor guaranteesacertainsteadystreamof visitorsinto the country But this has not been enough to put us up there with the big players in Africa´s tourism. The potenal is, however, there for Ghana to leverage its posioning to dramacally increase traffic into the country. For that to happen though, we need a NEW DEAL FOR GHANATOURISM

TheNewDealforGhanaTourism

Over the years, there have been a myriad of laws, policies and iniaves meant to bolster Ghana´s tourism industry. The ideas are there, the plans have been drawn and some acons have been taken What is, however, missing is an overarching vision and ambion to connect the dotsandwhipallstakeholdersinline.

Ghana must aspire to rank within the top 10 most visited countries in Africa. It must set for itself a target to increase annual visitaons from 1 to 5 million visitors within 10 years by leveraging a USD10billioninvestmentintothetourismsector.

Polical leaders must seriously recalibrate their thinking around economic management away from the overreliance on natural resources to the creaon of new economic value that completely transforms the tradional structure of the economy.

Since independence, polical ambion has always been to industrialise the economy as a path to prosperity Every government has pursued this elusive dream and 56 years on, we are nowhere closer to being labeled an industrialised economy. Perhaps this is so because it is not in the interest of the global capitalist world order to have an industrialised Africa. The connent must necessary remain at the boom of the pyramid feeding the industrial epicenters in the West and these days, the East—with raw materials. It is, therefore, not

surprisingthathardlyanycountryinSub-SaharanAfricacanbesaidtobeindustrialised.

For Ghana, even as we connue to seek industrialisaon, how about we take compeve advantage of some low hanging fruits to bring in billions of dollars annually to support our economic growth? Tourism is easilywithinourreach.

We need a polical leader whose ambion will be to transform the economy in such a way as to make tourism the number one earner If he or she succeeds, it would mean a fundamental shi has occurred and new value has been created, and its ripple effects will be so impacul across the economy. New wealth wouldhavebeenbecreated.

Any meaningful transforming in Ghana´s tourism industry leading to dramac increase in traffic will have to emerge from a new deal, from an obsessive ambion to transform. Without that, we will connue to just checktheboxesandalltheexcitementaroundbrandGhanawillnotleadtoanymeaningfulimpact.

UNPRECEDENTEDINVESTMENT

If we want to play in the big leagues, we must bring out the big guns. There can't be any dramac change in the fortunes of our tourism industry without a dramac transformaon in our tourism infrastructure, experiencesandrelatedservices.Thisrequiresmoney.Alotofit.Itwillonlytakeagovernmentwhosemajor priority is tourism to put in the kind of work geared towards aracng the colossal investments it needs to transform the sector. Leveraging a USD10 billion financing will have to come through a variety of sources: budgetary allocaons, foreign direct investments, tourism bonds, public-private partnerships, buildoperate-transfereeagreements,amongothers.Wherethereisawill,therewillbeaway

It is important to note that any such colossal investment will not be at the expense of the general naonal development agenda. The things that tourism needs to thrive are also things that cizens need; good roads, good public transport, good sanitaon, good healthcare, good infrastructure, good public services and many others. Moreover, the dividends from massive investment into tourism will spur general economic growthtothebenefitofall.

There are many policies and iniaves needed to transform the tourism sector and many of these have already been in the conversaon for years. This arcle has sought to highlight what it believes is the missing link and the most important element needed for any dramac transformaon in Ghana´s tourism development—the ambion to make tourism the biggest sector of the economy and the will to see it through. We must aim at the heavens, and even if we only reach the stars, we would have sll made significantprogress.

BRAND DEVELOPMENT, BRAND BUILDING

AND DISRUPTIVE GLOBAL MARKET OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGRIBUSINESS, ARTS & TOURISM AND ICT BUSINESSES IN GHANA

BACKGROUND

Every business, no maer what category it

operates in, needs to have a brand and a brand strategy that are aligned with its business objecves That way, the process of developing and building that brand will have a well-thoughtthroughfoundaon.

Developing and building a brand involves a connuous process of brand development and brand building around two (2) broad pillars, thus: BrandImageandBrandIdenty.

Under these broad pillars, a business will have to create a messaging framework that influences the manner the business communicates with the buying public and clearly informs their audiences about what value they should expect when they patronizethebusinesses'productsorservices.

Now, let's look at the main consideraons when developingabrand.

In developing its brand image, a business will need tofocuson:

Ÿ The brand's core values – which will be the values that will guide the conduct of your business it's internal and external engagements. In essence the character of the business

Ÿ The brand's personality – represents how the business wants its audiences to perceive it. These are the emoonal connectors that enable the business to achieve affinity with theconsumer

Ÿ User percepon – this is the posion that a business occupies in the market space,

KOFI ASANTE

directlyrelated to the brand's equitywithin its category

In developing its brand identy, a business will needtofocuson:

Ÿ Brand name & Logo – the name of the businessoritsproductorservice

Ÿ Typography – brand identy elements like fonts are a key part of building a brand's identy

Ÿ Colour palee – brand identy elements like coloursarealsoakeypartofabrand'sidenty

These are the elements that make a brand, and these are the building blocks of brand development.

Brand building involves connuous periodic brand acvies that feed off business and markeng communicaonstrategies.

Brandbuildinginvolves:

Ÿ Conducngeffecvemarketresearch

Ÿ Focusonvalueproposion

Ÿ Develop emoonal connecon with consumers

Ÿ Deliverconsistentcampaigns

Ÿ Measurementsanditeraons

Brand development and brand building opportunies

The adversing category has been the main driver of markeng communicaons in Ghana, and therefore brand development, brand building and digitalacvies.

The brand development and brand building opportunies for businesses in the Agribusiness, Arts & Culture and ICT categories in Ghana is praccally the same. This is because the principles and elements of developing and building a brand for a business remain the same and can be applied acrossavariedrangeofindustries.

From my 20+ years experience in markeng communicaons, the last 12 of which has been focused on the digital discipline, major branding

andrebrandingcampaignsbysomeofGhana'sClub 100 members have required the same consideraons in brand development and brand buildingdevelopingcampaigns.

Disnguished brand like Unilever, Diageo, Nestle, MTN, Vodafone and SMEs like Farmerline, ExpressPay, SlidePay, GhanaPost GPS and Hubtel have all benefited from markeng communicaons campaign that have helped develop and growth theirbrandandthereforetheirbusinesses.

Even media companies have leveraged their media assets to develop and build their brands. Think of companies the Joy Media, Despite group of companies,CiNewsGroupamongstothers.

As part of the brand building process, a business may need to remind the market of its original proposion by relaunch the brand emphasise an exisngposionorreclaimitsposion

In other cases, it may need to reposion itself, and this may mean a change of brand identy, personality or core offering. This may require, primarily, a rebranding campaign to communicate thenewposioningandpersonality.

Someexamplesof successfulbrandingcampaigns

Brand campaigns are what spearhead a business's engagement with the consuming public, with the aim to occupy a favourable posion in the minds of theirtargetaudience.

In the realm of brand development and brand building, rebranding campaigns tend to be interesng and engaging An example is the Enterprise Group “Your Advantage” rebranding campaign which was precede by a capvang “Horse Invasion” teaser, complete with a pseudotrailerofaficonalmovie.

Figure 1: Enterprise Group rebranding campaign teaser -The Horse Invasion

This campaign did not only achieve its objecve of creang synergy between the various subsidiaries, but also resulted in the stock price of the business gaining by about 23% in the month of the launch, June2014.

There are some campaigns that achieved less success. For example, AsaaseGPS was rebranded and promoted as GhanaPost GPS, based on the “Jack Where Are You?” teaser campaign This campaign ensured that the digital addressing system that was acquired by the government for Ghana Post Company was introduced to create awareness.

However, aer the inial awareness drive, the campaign lost momentum as there was no followup campaigns to acvate and engage with the Ghanaiansociety Thiscampaignthereforefailedto leverage the full consumer journey, to achieve growthinusage.

Based on the existence of relavely old and strong agencies like Scanad, Ogilvy, Innova DDB, Dentsu and their track record of developing and building brands, there is, without a doubt an availability of brand development, brand building and transformaon services that are available to Ghanaianbusinesses.

ReachingGlobalandregionalaudiences

As of January 2023, 5.16 billion internet users worldwide have been recorded That is 64 4 percent of the global populaon. Of this, 4.76 billion, or 59.4 percent of the world's populaon, areonsocialmedia.

Figure 4: Source - stasta.com

Figure 2: GhanaPost GPS launch campaign teaser: "Jack Where Are You?"-Outdoor

Of the 5.16 billion internet users globally, 13% of them are in Africa; and this is growing and set to reach 748+ million users by 2028.

This presents businesses in the Agribusiness, Arts and Culture, and ICT sectors, in Ghana, huge regional and global audiences to engage with, for growth.

Marketplaces like Alibaba, Jumia, Tonaton are opportunies for small businesses to reach global audienceswiththeirgoodsandservices.

OpportuniesforMarketDisrupon

The Technology Age is arguably the most disrupve age in human history, and digital technologies has democrazed growth opportuniesforbusinesses.

The speed with which things change due to technological advancement is mind-boggling. Becauseofthis,businessesthatareatthecungedgeoftheircategorymakethemostimpact.

Digital trends like Soware-as-a-Service (SaaS), Near Field Communicaon (NFC), eCommerce, RFID, Blockchain, eMobility, Cloud Compung,

Big Data, Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have impacted businessesposivelyforgrowth.

Now let's look at some of the truly disrupve technologies that can be leveraged for growth by businessesintheAgribusiness,

LeveragingAIforbusinesstransformaon

AccordingtoRayKurzweil,computerswillachieve humanlevelsofintelligenceby2029.

The me has come for AI, and its influence seems to have permeated every facet of business, including markeng communicaons. This has led to a proliferaon of AI-driven tools and plaorms across the fields of finance, fintech, agribusinessandartsandculture.

In Agribusiness, a Ghanaian AI company, KaraAgro AI, has developed a tool which enables farmerstoeasilyandaccuratelydetectdiseasesin their crops using Arficial Intelligence. By simply

Figure 4: Source - stasta.com

taking a photo of the crop's leaf, the app would analyseitandtellifanydiseasesarepresent.

Farmers can detect diseases both online and offline KaraAgro AI currently has Arficial Intelligence systems for detecng diseases in; Tomato, Maize, Sweet Pepper, Potato, Grapes, Peach,Strawberry,AppleandCherry.

The influence of AI in markeng communicaons have reached dizzying proporons and created a lot of excitement amongst category players regardingthepossibilies,whichseemsinfinite.

Then there is Microso's ChatGPT4 and Google's Bard, the two (2) front-running AI tools for markengandadversing.

Betweenthem,these2(two)plaormsdeliver:

1. Data Analycs to analyze data to understand customer behavior and uncover trends, supplyanddemand,andtrends.

2. Analyze leads through customer data to make adversing recommendaons based on previous purchase behavior, registraon informaon,searchhistory,etc.

3. Smartadobjectsthatcanautomacallycreate smart ad objects to increase interacvity, with factors such as age, gender, geographic locaonandinterest.

4. Opmize ads: use Machine learning to predict the performance of adversing campaigns based on historical data use algorithms to opmize ad campaigns, from ad format, posioning, pricing and ad content. can also track ad results and re-opmize campaigns overme.

5. Deep Learning: can use Deep Learning to analyze images and videos to determine appropriateandeffecveadversingcontent. Another instance is the integraon of AI into socialmediamanagementtoolslikeBuffer.

LeveragingContentforbusinesstransformaon

In the Arts and Culture category, Spofy and Audiomack are examples of audio streaming plaorms that have enabled music arstes to promote their works to global audiences, while monezingtheirtraffic.

YouTube, Google's video streaming service is another opportunity for businesses to in the Arts and Culture category to promote and. moneze their content. It can also be maintained as the videorepositoryforallthebrand'svideos.

In more recent mes, social media plaorms like Facebook and TikTok have also delivered monezing opportunies to content developers, therebypresenngplayerswiththespacetogrow businessesinthatsector.

Over the years, the saying that “Content is King” has connued to manifest in even more excing and rewarding ways, and players within the Arts and Culture space connue to benefit from new waysofcreangcontentanddistribungthem.

Furthermore, a movie category disruptor like Nelix has open a huge door of opportunity for filmmakers and other content creators, in Ghana, toshowcasetheircontenttoaglobalaudience.

Figure 6: Buffer's AI assistant for social media management

LeveragingCloudtechnologyforbusinesstransformaon

Cloud Commerce, Cloud Mobility, Cloud Markeng are examples of how cloud compung has presented businesses with the opportunity to see goods and services online without owning any of the hardware, sowareandtoolsrequirestorunaneBusiness.

Cloud Commerce delivers eCommerce soluons that provide a range of features like hyperlocal marketplaces, mul-vendor marketplaces and payment and delivery processing plaorm integraons that provides everything a business, whether small or big needs to reach wider markets, with efficiency at low costs. Examples of these players, both local and global, are Alibaba, Amazon, Jumia, Hubtel, ExpressPay, SlydePay,andTonaton.

Cloud Mobility has transformed the transport sector, with on-demand services like ride-hailing and courier. In Ghana, global players like Uber, Bolt and Yango have dominated the ride-hailing category. These companieshavealsodiversifiedintothecourierbusiness.

However, small businesses like ShaqExpress and FC Express have disrupted the courier category with the mobileapps.Therearemanyotherstart-upsandsmallbusinessesemergingfromthissector.

Cloud Markeng provides businesses with the markeng technology (also Martech) tools and plaorms requiredtoincreasetheaudiencereachandconvertahigherrateofsalesleads,acrossmarkets.

Cloud compung has become the backbone of eBusinesses, delivering low costs of operaons, agile development and deployment of apps and tools because of access to resources that, hitherto, was within thereachofonlyafewbigbusinesses.

Promongeventsonaglobalscale

Event organizers are also taking advantage of digital transformaon opportunies to deliver events to, not justlocalaudiences,butalsoglobalones.

Social media networks, as well as online publicaons have also enabled businesses to promote these events toaudiencesthat,inyearspast,wereinaccessible.

Moreover, COVID-19 precipitated the advent of innovaon in terms of how we organized events - cue virtual events.

Ÿ There is a proliferaon of collaborave and conferencing tools and plaorms like Zoom, GoTo and BlueJeans that have brought immense benefits to businesses that are looking for alternaves to physicalconferencesandseminars.

EventtoolslikeEventbritecanbeleveragedtopromotebusinessevents,completewithannouncementsand cketssales.

There are also opportunies for virtual conferences and seminars delivered using tools like Cvent and Bizzabo,whichcomewithexcingfeatureslikevirtualbooths,meengroomsamongstothers.

These plaorms and tools also have markeng features that enables event organizers to their events to the rightaudiences.

CONCLUSION

For businesses involved in Agribusiness, Arts and Culture, and ICT in Ghana, these present opportunies to reach audiences all around the globe, thereby increasing the chances of exponenalgrowth.

We cannot discuss these excing opportunies without considering the challenges to achieving them, which is basically lack of infrastructure, mainly errac energy, slow bandwidth and high costofinternetdata.

This is a thorny issue at the crux of digital transformaon in Ghana as all these tools and plaorms indicated above will depend on the availability of the internet speeds that come with 5G.

5G is what will deliver the necessary bandwidths and speeds required to seamlessly integrate these disrupve tools and soware into roune producvitysystems.

Needless to say that the 5G revoluon can be accelerated by a concerted effort between government digizaon agencies, the NCA and mobilenetworkoperators(MNOs).

In conclusion, despite these challenges, there has been a significant growth in digital inclusion and opportunies for businesses in the Agribusiness, ArtsandCultureandICTtothriveandgrow

I dare say that we are at the cusp of formalizing a digital economy in Ghana, as both government and corporate instuons embark on their own digitaltransformaonagendas.

Therefore, it is within the space of this digital economy that businesses in Ghana will be expected to posion their brands, if they are to remainrelevantinthefuture.

Andtheopportuniesareendlesslyexcing.

THE CHOP BOX JOURNEY

Ilearned early on the value of h a r d w o r k a n d i n d e p e n d e n c e . Concurrently, I saw a father who was fully invested in his whitecollar career as a proofreader for one of Ghana's top publishing houses at the me. I'm the fih of six kids and I grew up in a big, loving family. There was barely enough money between the two of them to get by Korkor ice, as she was known to those in her supply chain (fishmongers, ice water vendors, bone shaker drivers, etc.), dealt in ice slabs at Accra's Salaga Market, as well as charcoal, grains, and other commodies. When she needed to find some of the stocks she traded, she would have to go far out into the countryside. Technology was far behind where we were at as a country, but she was fortunate enough to usehersister'slandlinewheneversheneededtogetin touch with any merchants or drivers. Whether my dad had been paid or not, my mom always made sure we hadfoodonthetable,helpedpayforschool,etc.

I picked up a lot of knowledge from observing her business pracces that has proven useful to me in my own ventures since then. I have a lot of stories to tell, but the two tasks I remember most certainly were collecng debts and distribung goods. I take heart from her toughness and enthusiasm for selfemployment because they give me faith that I, as well, can make it as an entrepreneur. Even though she didn't see me begin this path, her pride in me has never wavered.

Once upon a me, when I was a student geng my first degree, I tagged along when Unilever Ghana Limited came to campus to talk to us Through the Naonal Service Secretariat and the Management Trainee Program, I was able to land a posion with such a Fortune 500 company in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector Because of this, I got to learn about all aspects of customer development, from enhancing our sales team's abilies to expanding our clientele, product l i n e s , a n d c h a n n e l s o f distribuon in the modern and tradional markets of Ghana, South Africa (where I was sent on an internaonal assignment), Kenya, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast. Three years before leaving the corporate world, I imagined myself as a successful business owner. My burning ambions are to leave a lasng impact, lower local unemployment rates, and empower local women by providing them with access tobeeremploymentopportunies.

Demanding and difficult, especially as a working mother and graduate student. As I prepared to return to work aer my maternity leave, I needed help from a caregiver, but more importantly, I needed the proper nutrious, affordable foods to wean my son off. Homemade Hausa Koko paste (a famous street food) was handed to me bymy aunt This was going to be our super brand someday Again, I had an experience where my sister had to shop for my niece's school supplies I found myself wondering, "Can I get someone to do this for me and deliver it to her on

RAMATU SAI JIMMAH

campus without her packing and stressing to sele in to school?" This seemed like a good opportunity, and I figured there had to be others in a similar boat. Originally, Chopbox Express was a web-based convenience store aimed squarely at college students away from home. The plan was to introduce packaged convenience foods, local foods, etc , aer people becameaccustomedtoourservice.

With a plan in place beginning in August 2018, I set out to implement the changes I hoped to see in my life by the following August. On August 4, 2019, I received my first ever paying customer. Finally, in December of 2019, I made the decision to quit my posion as the HeadofModernTradeatUnilevertofocusonChopbox Expressfullme.

In the week of COVID locked down in March 2020 in Ghana, we pivoted into convenience agro-foods targeted at working mothers seeking to offer healthier local breakfast, snack and soup-base delicacies prepared within a short cooking me to save the mother me to live beer. This was because children were home and mothers were saddled with preparing quick healthier meal soluons as well as working from home. This season was the breakthrough for our convenience agro-foods. The product gained a lot of support from family and friends. Though we started without any branding, through word of mouth, we gained 2 new clients every week. My past professional experiences have allowed me to oversee the company's direcon, as well as its branding, quality, sales,andmarkenginiaves.

One of our differenators is the adopon of local catchy names which reminds people of the goodness of what they once enjoyed but for me – Toogbei, Pinkaso, Kunu, Hausa Koko etc. This is evidenced by the posive feedback we consistently get from customersandadvocatesofthelabel.

Though technology is expensive to many especially SMEs like myself, I have consciously worked with engineers and fabricators locally to customize 80% of ourequipment,whichtodayChopboxExpressnowhas

Hausa Koko producon line which ensures a sanitary end-result. For our portrait sessions, we even have a specializedphotostand(inplaceofaringlightstand).

We have leveraged on the use of simple ICT tools like the internet, our Chopbox Express website, as well as popular social media plaorms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twier, TicTok to drive our presenceandvisibility Inaddion,85%ofoursalesare mainly via social media and ecommerce plaorms. We support our bookkeeping with an app called OZE which has improved our invoicing system, sales and debt tracking. One key uniqueness with our products comes on the package. This is the QR-code which offers audiovisual instrucons on how to prepare each product. Regardlessof priorknowledgeinknowingthe food, this feature grants the Chopboxer the opportunity to try it first-hand just by watching and followingtheinstrucons.

Women make up 83% of our 6-person team aged between 25 and 45. Together we have over 30 years of professionalexperience.

In addion to my professional background, I come on board with 3years in food processing, degree in Foods and Nutrion, MBA in Business Administraon, 2 trainings on selected food processing cerfied by the Food & Research Instute and a Post Graduate Diploma cerficate in Agribusiness. Clement has a technical background and joins us with three years of machine operaon experience and four years of retail sales Both Ruky and Vida have some trading experience despite their educaonal backgrounds (Ruky has a sixth-grade educaon and Vida has none). Accordingly, we adapted their training to help them perform their assigned dues. We have 2 part me ladies (students) we come in as and when the need arises. In addion, we collaborate with Challenges Ghana, a venture that supports SMEs with graduates on a 4month project to support SMEs aer an operaonal audit is conducted and idenfied gaps are agreed.

This granted Chopbox Express 3 graduates in the year

to streamline our financial reporng, enhance presence on social media and this has been of immense benefit. Our zeal to empower the youth in ourcommunityispartofoursurvival.

With the right technological backing, the agro-food industry can offer a lot more possibilies. Flakes made from millet and fonio are just two examples of the modern alternaves (which are good substutes for cornflakes- imported). Flour from some of our root tubers can be a great replacement for wheat flour The Food Research Instute has the knowledge and tools to back up the industry. At Chopbox Express, we have tried and tested the use some of these and it presents same outcome in terms of the taste, texture and colour We have entered the Swiss, Canadian, and U.S. market through a few select African shops in an effort to cater to the preferences of West Africans. There is a lot of room for growth, and the demand for regional specialesishuge.

Everything we do is driven by our desire to give the busy mom (The Chopboxer) a break by providing her with healthier, more accessible meal opons in her area so that she can feed her family and, most importantly,takecareofherself There'ssomethingfor everyone in our menu, from light breakfast opons to hearty soups. To that end, our formulaons aim to cut down cooking mes by as much as 70–90 percent. Chopbox Express takes the hassle out of mealme by

providing a variety of opons in their boxed lunches. It's why we stock 4 disnct variees of Toogbei, 2 disnct variees of Pinkaso, Crunchy-Peanut and Cashew Buer, Pancake, and various spice levels in 2 disnctformatsofourbest-sellingHausaKoko.

FUTURE

The vision of Chopbox Express is to meet the West African taste across the globe, hence required to have internaonal foods standards and recognion. This is expected to allow for ease of access to market and an opportunity scale-up to meet the potenal demand consistently. As a Foods and Nutrion degree holder, healthier eang enthusiast, coupled with my skills in customer development and markeng, I believe I am equipped to build a great team, a big brand and leave an aspiraonal legacy The future will be brighter if our team is well equipped, trained and are able to provide for their family's livelihoods. I am commied to supporng a community that seeks the well-being and nutrionalinterestofitsgeneraon.

Shop with us at: hps://wa.me/c/233248455864, hps://chopbox.express, hps://jumia.com.gh , hps://GHBasket, hps://plendify.com, hps://jowato.com.

THE POWER AND POTENTIAL OF THE ORANGE ECONOMY

Juliet Yaa A. Asante

The focus of the Ishmael Yamson and Associates Business Roundtable 2023 on wealth creaon, emphasises its urgency in the current circumstances.

The pandemic provided an opportunity for global reset and some countries and organisaon capitalized on the creave space as a route to creang a reenergisedeconomy.

The orange economy, which is what the creave economy is called, proved to be one of the most resilient sectors, if not the most resilient, during the pandemic. In the United States, average incomes in t h i s s e c to r exc e e d e d t h o s e o f o i l , ga s , telecommunicaons, and others by 40% during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, despite challenges in content creaon, there was a surge in demand as global streamers like Nelix, Disney, and Amazon ramped up their content acquisions and producon For example, Nelix announced an investment of over $2 billion in South Korean content (K-Drama) and released a report on their acvies in Africa. However, investment levels by streamers in African countries remainrelavelylowcomparedtoglobaltrends.

Nigeria'sFilmHouseanditssubsidiary, FilmOne, led the way in demonstrang the power of local content during the pandemic. They produced indigenous content, taking advantage when content oulow from global studios was heavily challenged, to enhance investments in local content creaon. This resulted in indigenous content earning millions at the box office, a remarkable achievement. FilmHouse's significantinvestmentincontent,coupledwithothers,

includingGovernment,haspropelledtheNigerianfilm industryforward.

The case of Nigeria highlights the importance of a strategic decision and commitment by policymakers and the business community to invest in the sector The launch of iniaves like the Nollywood Access Fund and support from the Bank of Industry have set an example that many African countries, including Ghana,havefailedtofollow.Merelywishingforsimilar results without accompanying investments is insufficient. African leaders oen offer lip service to the sector without implemenng necessary policies and investments, while African investors tend to priorize "tangible" investment opportunies However, the sector, valued at over $20 billion according to a 2021 UNESCO report, presents significant potenal Investors like FilmHouse are already reaping substanal returns, as they emerge as the leading player in Nigeria and expand across the connent.

Ghana, the second-largest content producer in the West Africa region aer Nigeria, has received minimal investment in the sector. While Ghana has established a film commission - the Naonal Film Authority of Ghana, the lack of the necessary accompanying funding has made it extremely challenging for the Authority to achieve an audacious strategic plan for

development. Success will mean significant gains for Ghana, as the sector has the capacity to create massive employment and aract Foreign Direct investments. The example of Atlanta, Georgia in aracng over 10 billion dollars and creang 300 new jobs in its first year of posioning as a film hub is a case study for most economies seeking to follow similar plans. Ghana's plan, similarly seeks to posion Ghana as a film and content hub in the region. It is therefore important that Government follows through with its commitment to the sector It is worth nong however, that only 40% of African countries have a film commission, according to the UNESCO report. Despite the difficules faced, the recognion of the Naonal Film Authority's work as strategic and innovave by the authors of the UNESCO report is noteworthy and deservingofacknowledgment.

The private sector in Ghana has been slow to parcipate in the sector, possibly due to the lack of sector data and the inability of players to speak stronglytoaclearreturnoninvestments.

According to the 2021 Unesco report, the creave sector, parcularly film, is the largest employer in Africa. Addionally, the emergence of animaon and video games presents significant opportunies. In 2021, Ghanaians spent over $40 million on mobile game downloads, which increased to $60 million in 2022, posioning Ghana as the second-largest video game market aer South Africa, where over 40% of the populaon are gamers. However, despite the growing interest in the gaming and animaon subsector, which is part of the global industry, esmated to exceed a worth over $400 billion in just a couple of years, Ghana mainly serves as a consumer market. Local video game and animaon studios struggle to secure investments to expand and tap into the revenue generated from Ghanaian and African consumers'expendituresongaming.

Three crical factors define our me and highlight bothreasonsforhopeandconcerns.

Firstly, the populaon explosion in Africa, parcularly the growing youth populaon, with esmates indicang that by 2030, 40% of global youth will be in Africa, and this number is expected to double by 2050. This demographic shi surpasses that of China and India,whiletherestoftheworldagesincomparison.

Secondly, the increased internet penetraon,

widespread use of smartphones, and the rise of mobile money, along with the growing middle class, present excing developments. In the creave space, technology adopon, the establishment of creave fesvals and hubs, and the interest of streaming plaorms like Nelix, Amazon, and Showmax have led to a boom in content creaon, leading to the phrase 'content is the new oil.' Major investments, such as Mulchoice's $10 million investment in Ghanaian content for their channels, exemplify the increasing demandandopportuniesinthisarea.

Thirdly, the adaptaon to content plaorms like TikTok, the ability to moneze YouTube channels and Facebook pages, and the empowerment of individuals to produce, self-publish, and distribute their own content have brought success stories throughout the connent. Technological advancements have reduced barriers to entry, allowing young people to enter the sector and create viable sources of income

Furthermore, technology has connected the connent, facilitang the rise of content with crossconnental appeal, leveraging the potenal market size. The African Connental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents an excing opportunity to accelerate this trend. However, policymakers and African investors seem to overlook these trends due to a lack of trust, slow availability of data, resistance to change, and relavely slower technology uptake, hindering efforts toaractinvestorsintothesector.

The main obstacle to harnessing the potenal of the African creave sector for the benefit of its people is the lack of funding, rather than a lack of opportunies orskilllevels.

The youth populaon in Africa represents energy, a skilled workforce, and potenal spending power. Considering the aging populaon in other parts of the world, it is crucial for African investors to take the lead in invesng in African content and not wait to merely follow the footsteps of foreign investors who have already demonstrated a greater appete and willingness to invest in the sector on the connent. CanalPlus, for instance, not only invests but also acquires African investments, such as Iroko TV and Cote Quest, a major distributor serving Francophone countries and one of the four major distribuon companies on the connent. There are significant investment opportunies available throughout the value chain, spanning producon, distribuon, and

exhibion.

The potenal of Africa's rising youth populaon in relaon to global demographics is oen met with reacons varying from surprise to alarm in my meengs worldwide It is crucial for businesses, including global ones, to develop a plan to capitalize on this dynamic youth demographic in Africa. Failing to do so means missing out on both the market and workforce The implicaons of this missed opportunity for businesses worldwide have yet to be quanfied but are undoubtedly significant. The absence of discussions about this topic at policy and investment tables is perplexing. Creave sector inclusion in investment summits and outreach, even byorganizaons like the Ghana Investment Promoon Centre,israre.

Ghana's successful campaigns like "Year of Return" and "Beyond the Return" have highlighted the significant role played by the creave sector in driving tourism and subsequent gains for the country. Infrastructure alone is not what aracts tourists; it is the content and people of a country that engage and capvate visitors. Film Tourism, in parcular, has proven to be a major driver of tourism globally, with the ability to increase tourist numbers by up to 500% for sustained periods of over 5 years. Examples such as "BraveHeart" and "Game of Thrones" have significantlyboostedtourisminScotland and Morocco as viewers travel to experience the locaons featured inthesefilms.Moreover,thecreavespaceservesasa powerful tool for promong culture and so power on a global scale. South Korea's deliberate investment in its people and content as major exports has not only propelled its entertainment industry but has also showcased its language and local products like "Soju"a local drink akin to Ghana's Akpeteshie, to the world. Soju is now recognized and served throughout the world.

The Ghana film industry aims to establish Ghana as a film and content hub. Aracng film shoots to the country is a highly compeve global strategy, parcularly as many economies seek to bolster their inflow of dollars through the sector in the postpandemic era. Major producons bring substanal financial investments, known as "so money," that smulate local economies by supporng film crews and various businesses such as hotels, catering houses, clothing houses, and equipment rentals.

Furthermore, the industry's growth contributes to the creaon of local jobs, facilitates skills transfer, and promotesfilmtourism.

Ghana possesses 60% of the necessary elements to realize its ambion as a film and content hub, including desirable locaons, safety, favourable weather, a robust banking sector, a skilled workforce, and training schools. However, crical gaps persist in infrastructure, such as studios, equipment and set design houses, skilled workforce availability, and producon facilies capable of handling large-scale projects. For instance, the potenal interest of Girls Trip 2 to shoot in Ghana raised concerns about the lack of supporng infrastructure and the absence of a tax incenve to aract global filmmakers. Fortunately, the Naonal Film Authority of Ghana and related agencies are acvely working on a Tax Incenve program expected to be implemented in 2023. This program aims to provide tax reliefs to both foreign and local investors in the sector, an essenal factor in aracng internaonal producers to choose Ghana as their shoongdesnaon.

The market for content distribuon presents a significant challenge and opportunity for investors in the creave sector, parcularly in film. The lack of a clear investment return plan has been a common concern among investors, emphasizing the need for a morebusiness-orientedapproachtofunding.

The African market, specifically in cinema, faces a substanal gap. With less than 1,000 cinemas and under 1,700 screens across the enre connent, the numbers pale in comparison to countries like France, which boasts over 6,000 screens. Furthermore, over 70% of the African populaon has never been to a cinema, highlighng the untapped potenal. While some argue that streaming has replaced cinemas, the reality on the ground suggests that cinema experiences can be adapted to suit the unique African context. Cinema-going remains a cost-effecve form of entertainment and will connue to be relevant. Addionally, African filmmakers require access to the complete market value chain, including fesvals, cinemas, airlines, television, and video-on-demand plaorms. It is crucial to cater to African audiences, especially considering the significant youth demographic, which dominates content consumpon worldwide.

Africa's youth is increasingly connected to global

entertainment trends, as evident in their following of internaonal programs and engagement on plaorms like Twier This highlights the importance of not overlooking the global-mindedness of African youth, parcularlyinthefilmandmusicindustries.

The queson of adapng cinema to the African context remains a key topic of discussion. However, Africa represents the biggest opportunity for cinema in the 21st century. The upcoming Africa Cinema summit, taking place in Ghana in November 2023, further emphasizes Ghana's leading role in the industry The summit serves as a plaorm for African investors to seize this opportunity and determine whethertheywilltaketheleadorbeovershadowedby foreigninvestors.

Content creaon in Africa, including live-acon producon, animaon, and gaming, is supported by producon studios on the connent, including those in Ghana. Le Arts, a video game house, showcases the connent's potenal by serving as a consultant and designer for global game developer Riot Games. However, despite their capabilies, many local studios face challenges in securing investments to expand and meet industry demands. This situaon raises concerns about the potenal loss of skilled talent to other regions.

Nigeria's success in local film and music investment, which led to the rise of global giants, serves as a valuable reference for local investors across the connent.

It is crucial to address key quesons regarding the preparaon of African youth for upcoming opportunies and the existence of a comprehensive plan. The implicaons of the youth populaon growth for Africa and the rest of the world need to be understood. Will businesses acvely seek to recruit from Africa to fill the emerging gaps? Is our educaonal system adequately equipped to train a workforce capable of capitalizing on the potenal global shortages resulng from mass rerements? Are local investors sufficiently knowledgeable about the sector?Whatfactorshinderlocalinvestment,andhow can they be confronted? Addionally, why do African governments connue to overlook a sector that has the potenal to generate much-needed employment opportunies amidst the unemployment crisis? How can schools play a role in training the required workforce for the creave sector, parcularly in film,

which demands specialized skills? There are notable gaps in supporng areas like entertainment law and setdesignthatneedtobeaddressed.

The rise in Africa's youth populaon poses potenal downsides if unemployment levels persist or worsen, considering the current high rates of youth unemployment in many African countries. With a median age below 25 and unemployment rates exceeding 60% in most African naons, the presence of an energec but jobless youth populaon becomes a significant risk for sociees and a cause for concern amonggovernmentsandcorporateleaders.

The Africa Connental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) presents a promising development. However, it is crucial to recognize that internal trade and growth opportunies for indigenous businesses can only be fully realized if urgent aenon is given to crical areas such as access to funds and loans, interest rates, facilitaon of travel between African states, and enhancement of technical skills training. These issues demand immediate aenon to leverage the potenalbenefitsoftheAfCFTA

The rise of AI in Africa is an area of interest, but the slow adopon of efficient AI may have its advantages. Africa needs to connue relying on human labour whilealsokeepingpacewiththeAIrevoluon.

According to the 2021 Unesco report on Film and Audiovisual in Africa, the creave sector is the largest employer on the connent with low barriers to entry. The sector currently employs 5 million people and generates $5 billion in income for the connent However, the report suggests that these numbers could potenally reach 20 million and $20 billion respecvely.

It's evident that the creave sector can play a crucial role in addressing the unemployment challenges faced by African youth. This requires immediate aenon from policymakers and corporate enes as asoluonprovider.

The key is to maintain a creave mind-set and seek innovave soluons to generate sustainable wealth within the connent. It is essenal for policymakers andbusinessleaderstotakeaconpromptly,asmeis oftheessence.

The contribuon of Agriculture to the economic development of Africa and Ghana cannot be underesmated. Of course, this is true for the whole world Agriculture is what brought the ancestors of the enre human race in the East African savannah some 12,000 years ago from the toils and dangers of hunter gathering to the great civilizaon we see today Indeed, Agriculture provided the impetus that promoted large scale human cooperaon and moved humankind from living in small bands of up to 100 people to large metropolis and subsequently to the formaon of city states, naons, kingdoms, and empires. It's our quest to develop agriculture in the Nile Valley that brough in its wake the world's first civilizaon The Nile Valley was and is sll characterized by prolonged drought and occasional heavy flooding. This scarcity of water and occasional flooding from the Nile Valley planted in the minds of our ancestors the need to come together to construct dams. This gradual mobilizaon of individual human bands to control the raging flood waters in the Nile Valley for agricultural purposes gave humankind its firstmajorcivilizaon–TheEgypanCivilizaon.

Since the Agrarian revoluon, which was praccally started and invented by Africans, the world has gone through three major industrial revoluons as shown here. Sadly, Africans, the inventors of the world's first large scale revoluon failed to take acve part in these

Daniel Asare-Kyei, PhD.

Chief executive officer, Esoko daniel@esoko.com / www.esoko.com

modernrevoluons.

s t The 1 industrial revoluon was shaped by mechanizaon and steam engines The second industrial revoluon was ushered in by electricity which enabled mass producon and assembly lines. The third industrial revoluon was powered by automaon, computers, and electronics. It must be noted that, at the heart of all these revoluons were a big elephant lurking at the background called “Technology”

This technological magical wand is now ushering in an th even more powerful revoluon called the 4 Industrial Revoluon (4IR). The 4IR is being shaped by rapid advancements in Arficial Intelligence (AI), machine learning,blockchain,InternetofThings(IoT)etc.

What this means is that for an agribusiness to th contribute to significant wealth creaon in Ghana's 4 Industrial era of Growth, these 4IR technologies of AI, IoT, Block Chain and Big Data must be harnessed, developed, and incorporated in all facets of agricultural development and along the agribusiness value chain. Big Data, IoT, AI and Block Chain are

THE IMPORTANCE AND CONTRIBUTION OF AGRIBUSINESS TO THE CREATION OF WEALTH, IN THE CONTEXT OF GHANA'S 4TH INDUSTRIAL ERA OF GROWTH.

moving into Agriculture in a big way and we if we fail to harness the powers of these technologies we must as wellforgetaboutusingagribusinesstocreatewealth.

Our agriculture is sll saddled with all the elements that our ancestors invented to usher in the Agrarian revoluon. The use of donkeys and animal drawn implements to ll the soil, the use of cutlasses and matchets to clear the weeds and the use of buckets to fetch water to irrigate crops were all major tools invented some 6000 years ago and yet these are the st same tools that our farmers are using in the 21 century. These tools can not in any way create wealth fromagricultureforthemodernmanandwoman.

To illustrate why these basic tools have lost their relevance in today's agriculture, see the graph below, Africa's populaon was just 100Miillion at the turn of st the 1 Industrial revoluon. Now, our populaon is set to hit 3.5B by the turn of the century It's therefore obvious that the tools that fed 100M people in 1800 can not feed 3.5B people in just 77 growing seasons fromnow.

less than two hectares in size Incomes of these Smallholder Farmers (SHFs) remain stubbornly low, largely due to low producvity levels resulng from threats of increasingly climate variability and droughts and economic stressors such as high cost of purchased inputs, lack of access to credit, limited access to mechanizaon services as well as high post-harvest losses and lack of market informaon on the value of theircrop,amongotherfactors.

The Government's Planng for Food and Job program and other iniaves are changing the narraves, but we sll have a long way to go. Among the reasons for low input usage are the high costs of inputs and lack of access to capital to procure inputs. Only 40% of Ghanaian adults over 15 years old have bank accounts and those with formal savings schemes are esmated to be only 19%. A mere 8% of rural households in Ghana had access to credit for financing agriculture and crop and life insurance programs that could make these poor farmers more resilience in the face of these climac,economic,andsocialstressorsandthreatsare virtuallynon-existent.

To change these negaves and ensure that agriculture indeed contributes to wealth creaon, we must embrace the 4IR in all its forms. Let's see how these technologies can change the face of smallholder agriculture in Ghana with just one example of Big Data, IoTandAI.

Big Data deals essenally with extremely large data sets that may be explored and analyzed computaonally to show paerns, trends, and associaons, especially relang to human behavior anditsinteraconswiththephysicalenvironment.

Technology is moving into agriculture in a big way and it's moving with the speed of light. Before we delve into how technology is going to change the face of Agriculture around the world including Ghana, let's look at some of the numbers of Ghana's agricultural sector.

In Ghana, the agricultural sector has been a major driver of poverty reducon and dominates the livelihoods of rural households Although its contribuon to our GDP has been waning over the years from over 54% in the 2000's to 21% in 2021, it is sll the major employment source. 71% of rural households are engaged in agricultural acvies. Agricultural land area in Ghana constutes 69.1% of the total land area; however, only 57.6% of the arable land is currently culvated and the potenal for growth is enormous. About 90% of farm holdings are

In Agriculture, big data will be used to beer understand farmer's behavior in relaon to the crops he grows and field condions Measuring field condions such as soil moisture, nutrients, PH, temperature and rainfall and triangulang that with prices of inputs and outputs will be revoluonary in changing how farmers use labour, buy inputs and opmize their producon pracces with the objecve of opmizing profits and increasing income. This computaonal outcome from Big Data combined with AI will change the way we farm, harvest crops, sell and th even eat the harvested crop. Indeed, the 4 industrial revoluon is a data revoluon and the future is going to be owned by those who have the data and those whocanmakeuseofthedata.

To bring it home and take cursory tour into the future of Big Data and Agriculture we see this scenario. st Within the 21 century, to promote sustainable agriculture, a completely digized farmer will have his farmland mapped with Mobile GIS even before the

crops are seeded by drones or planted by robots which also apply ferlizers, crop protecon chemicals and weedicides during planng. Such a farmer will have sensors mounted at different secons of the farm that track soil moisture, land surface temperate as well as air temperature, relave humidity etc. This data is fed in real-me to the farmer's mobile phone through what has become known as the Internet of things and powerful algorithms running at the background with AI engines computes paerns, reveal trends and show crop growth anomalies. The whole farm becomes modelled on the farmer's hands and the farmer can remotely control crop growth based on the real- me data fed to his mobile phone. Whenever, a secon of the farm shows signs of water stress or nutrient scarcityorevenpestordiseaseinfestaon,thefarmers is alerted in real-me through powerful algorithms analyzing all these “big data” and recommend appropriate soluon. Such a recommendaon is site specific and take into consideraons the potenal marketvalueofthecrop,costofinputsetc.andstateof the environmental condions. The farmer could even automate a response mechanism that sends signals to roboc controls to move to the exact locaon and fix the problem either by applying ferlizers or water or control pests and diseases. It's such preciseness of recommendaons enabled by Big Data that eventually makes agriculture sustainable and profitable even to thesmallholderfarmerculvangsoybeaninTolon.

Upon harvesng, the completely digized farmer could be operang in a closed ecosystem with idenfiedoff-takersinastructuredmarketsystem.The farmerispaidthroughasmartcardthatisalsolinkedto the producon informaon which opmizes selling prices and help the farmer negoate beer with the offtakers.Thefarmermaybepaiddigitallythroughthe smart card or have the money sent to his mobile wallet. In a cashless ecosystem, the farmer never handles cash but can order for the next season's inputs through the same card system. The farmer walks to the nearest financial instuon, shows his smart card and the banking officer who knows lile about agriculture could swipe the farmer's card onto its data system to reveal the farmer's credit score. The digized farmer is given credit and a series of noficaons are sent to input companies via SMS & Voice, who delivers the farmersinputs.

Ulmately, Ghana's rural folks who currently are not integrated into the formal economy becomes fully digitally and financially included. This is the means by which the whole society gets lied out of poverty and then we can say indeed, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy because 71% of our rural compatriots who are engaged in this sector can now be tracked by

tax authories whilst other service provides target them to sell a whole range of consumer goods and services.

The possibilies of big data powered by large algorithms in promong sustainable agriculture is endless and even at this stage, our finite minds cannot fathomallthepossibiliesthatmayexist.

Commodity value chains present one of the best low hanging fruits to leverage technology to create massive wealth for our country Ghana sll spends some $2B annually to import what I call “the crical 4 commodies” – rice, poultry, wheat, and sugar. Along the value chains of these commodites are massive business opportunies from producon & mechanizaon, aggregaon, and post-harvest terminalto warehousing to logiscs and valueaddion to markeng. We need to leverage the 4IR technolgoes to unleash the latest potenal inherent in these commodiestocreatethewealththatweneed.

To go back to the story of industrial revoluons. Having missed the first three industrial revoluons, we need to embrace this new age with religious zealousness. It doesn't maer whether you believe in it or not. As Africans, we gave the world its first civilizaon and even went ahead to populate the enre unknown places of planet earth. Somehow, we folded our hands and watched the first three industrial revoluons passed by, choosing not to believe in them but rather pung our faith in needless religious ceremonies. we cannot afford to miss this train for it may well be the lasttrain.

All is not lost, neither is it too late. There are many young Ghanaians and Africans in general who now believe that the future lies in data and digizaon. We are now moving towards the knowledge economy and no longer believe in the raw material-based economy based on manpower and which were callously enforcedbyourcolonizers.

These young people who are starng businesses in what we know call “Agritech” companies need to be given direct support through deliberate Government programs designed to encourage further innovaon and scalability These start-ups as well as all the growth stage companies like my own needs to run Esoko faster than we have ever done to keep up with the rapidly evolving mantra of digizaon and data science. In doing so, we must learn to cooperate and work together. And we must remember that st agribusiness cannot creae 21 century wealth with the same tools our ancestors used to usher in the Agrarian revoluon.

THE PARTY CREW STORY

The Party Crew (TPC) is a licensed tourism agency in Ghana which exquisitely p a c ka g e s H e r i t a g e , A d v e n t u r e , Sightseeing, Recreaonal and Educaonal tourism acvies for corporate instuons, groups, and individuals living in Ghana and abroad.

The Party Crew registered with the Registrar General in the year 2013. Our mission is 'to make tourismexcing'andourvisionisto'aractmore tourists to Ghana and increase the interest in tourism for Ghanaians. The Party Crew provides aspartofitsservices:

i. ToursinGhanaandotherpartsofAfrica

ii. Organising naming ceremonies for our BrothersandSistersindiaspora

iii. Planning and organising customary marriage

iv Signaturetourpackages

v Virtualtourism(comingsoon)

During the first few months of operaon, The Party Crew experienced challenges which brought the firm to a standsll. Some challenges were:

a. The business suffered from low patronage because of targeng the wrong market. I assumed I could tap into my network from my previous industry to market the services of The Party Crew. I completely ignored the power of social media and the worldwide web asmarkengtools.

b. I had an ineffecve working relaonship with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) so the GTA did not know how to support The Party Crew

b u s i n e s s m o d e l t h a t only required us to operate from our computers since we intended to send

CYNTHIA CLASSPETERS

business proposals to corporate instuons. We only wanted the targeted instuonal clients to find that The Party Crew was registered if they performed a background check with the GTA Simple. That was the onlytoreasonwedecidedattheonsettogeta tourism licence - in order to be legimate and credible. Wrong! Registering with the GTA turned out to be a challenging process. The requirement to have a rented office space in

order to receive a licence was discouraging for a young company with no funds for this expenditure The young company experienced several other hurdles, including the cost of purchasing office equipment, accreditaon fees, and acquiring a tourism educaoncerficate.

c. I launched the business with zero cash and support from family and friends. The main issue of low patronage made it impossible to break-evenonplannedtrips.

Between 201 and 2017, TPC went on a hiatus because of the many issues faced but mainly because of the low patronage. During the years of hiatus, the passion for the industry made me restless. The more I suppressed my passion for the business, the more restless I became. I thought through the issues and aer seng out opons of the pathways available; I decided to do thefollowingandexaminetheoutcomes:

a. I would get a job with a tourism firm in order to gain some experience in the tourism industry. I had previously worked with the Associaon of Business Execuves, a professional educaon body, and The Ghana Employers Associaon, which is in the training and negoaon industry. I had no experience in the tourism industry and was only driven by my passion and inspiraon. I took a job at Jubilee Tours, but learned lile about the tours industry there because they focused more on selling airline ckets and my interest was in tours and not ckeng. I le Jubilee Tours aer two months, but at least I had learned the basics such as preparing a tourplan.

b. Ivisitedasmanytoursitesaspossibleinorder to know first-hand what they offered and the state of the road networks to the sites. This helped me to idenfy that relying on pictures posted on the internet to create my tour packages was dangerous for my business. The reality of the experience was usually different from what is shown on the internet. As a tour business, we can now pride ourselves in knowing about 80% of the tour

sites in the country well enough to curate experiencesthatfitourmission.

c. I finally opted to get a licensed partner in order to have shared responsibility and also be a support for each other. The Party Crew partnered with Mereki Tours in 2016, but unfortunately, the partnership did not last. But I learned some valuable lessons from the partnership, including not being emoonal in business and to ulise my network effecvely forbusinessgains.

HowWeGotBacktoWork

a. Giving it a try again – A friend living abroad who believed in the vision of TPC encouraged me and also convinced some colleagues to visitGhana. In2018,throughmyfriend'shelp in running a 14-day tour, three people visited Ghana. The feedback aer the tour was highly posive, so he helped with another group tour the following year In 2019, five people visited Ghana and had a fantasc me, so returned the following year. Unfortunately, Covid-19 global pandemic dashed the 2020 plans. The feedback from these two groups encouraged me to think about the viability of the business more crically. Finally, I concluded that the experience gained and posive feedback was enough to help me push forward with the TPC mission and vision, and thus the business was restartedinfullswing.

b. TheUseofSocialMediaformarkeng–From the incepon of the business ll 2020, TPC did not use social media as a business tool During the lockdown of 2020, I realised everyone was promong their business on social media. At that moment, I decided TPC would use the power of social media to create brand awareness. TPC's presence on social media generated expressions of interest, which turned into new business opportunies aer the COVID-19 restricons on movement were lied. Since then, the company has been organising tours successfully for Ghanaians.

c. Introducon to the Tour Operators Union of Ghana

Due to the level of service provided during my first post on Covid-19 tours, a friend of mine and her colleagues helped promote The Party Crewprogramstotheircircleofinfluence. During a work interacon, my friend found out thatoneofhercustomerswasthepresidentof the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA). Sheimmediatelyconnectedmeto the Tougha president to assist me with my issuesintheindustry

Ihadcreatedaworkingofficeathomeandhad a good social media presence. The President of TOUGHA offered to assist me get a Ghana Tourism Authority licence and also become a member of TOUGHA Aer six months of interacon with the TOUGHA president, The Party Crew became a member of TOUGHA and also got its licence from the Ghana Tourism Authority

d. TheUseofmyNetwork

Between 2021 and 2022, TPC planned and executed many tours About 90% of our clients are Ghanaians and about 70% of these Ghanaian clients are families, friends and acquaintances from social media plaorms. Our network has been a significant source of support and we will keep harnessing that for greater gains Because of this, we have created The Party Crew membership club which comprises about 70% of past clients. Clients who are members enjoy some benefits such as discounts, special birthday celebraons and free tourism ps and educaon.

These years of existence and experiences have given us clarity of purpose and passion to promote Ghana and Africa to the rest of the world. Even though as a country we have not invested enough in the tours sector by improving our road networks and adding value to our natural aracons, The Party Crew is doing its best to make what we have more aracve and beneficial to people in Ghana and beyond hoping things will keep improving in the tourism sector soon.

BrandingandBrandMarkeng

Our name, The Party Crew, and our mission 'to make tourism excing' has been our brand identy and has received accolades from clients as offering outstanding excing tours Even though our name does not scream out “tourism”, it creates curiosity and allows TPC to stand out in the tourism industry We have consistently showed to our target market and other major stakeholders that touring Ghana is excing, especially with The Party Crew, and the feedback showsourserviceexcellence. The Party Crew brand is marketed by its logo. The excing logo is on every picture and video we share on social media. This is to put the brand consistently in the minds of our target market. Insufficient funding has hindered TCP from ulising outdoor adversement However, we have recently paid Homebase TV to run a daily adversement for six months with the aim of making TPC the first choice when it comes to tourism in Ghana. Also, by way of markeng our brand, staff and members wear The Party Crew Tshirtstoshowcasethebrand.

IncorporaonofICT

The Party Crew started from a laptop and now does50%ofitworkfromthemobilephone. From clients' interacons, promoon of upcoming events, daily social media posng and communicang with the team. This helps to make work truly mobile. We don't have to be staoned at the office to perform certain tasks. As a firm, we market, sell and communicate via ICT with the use of email, WhatsApp messages and text messages. Due to this, we mostly meet the client at the me of service delivery of the tour or ceremony ICT is a key resource in our industry and has been essenal during the Covid19 period in relaon to sending our message across to our target market to create the necessary awareness about our services. We are also developing a website to make us more visible and accessible. Soon, we hope to make about 80% of our work digital TPC wants to be connected to different digital payment plaorms worldwide and also be able to issue digital receipts. One service we intend to promote and sell soon is Virtual Tourism This requires

investment in ICT in order to acquire the right gadgets and connecvity for the smooth delivery of this service. As a firm, we will do our best to incorporate the use of ICT at every stage of our business.

YouthEmployment

When I was working with the Associaon of Business Execuves (ABE-UK) we conducted research in 2008 and published the findings in 2010. The research was on Arficial Intelligence and Robocs. The lesson I learned from this research was that technology is good but it will also destroy a lot of jobs. The research finding made us (ABE-UK) develop the Entrepreneurship course to train and equip the youth with requisite skills to start their business. This made me think about entrepreneurship for the following reasons;

1. Start and build a business in order for my children to get a place to work from age 15tobuildexperienceandhaveexposure intheworkenvironment

2. Createemploymentfortheyouth.

The above reasons drove me to start The Party Crew aer my resignaon from ABE-UK in 2013. TPCcurrentlyemploys4peoplebetweentheages of 25 to 35 years. One administrave assistant, one graphic designer, one photo and videographer,andonetourguide. Wealsohave6 non-permanent staff between the ages of 30 and 40, regional tour guides and drivers, who we call on when needed. That our small firm has offered these people an opportunity to work, learn and earnincomeisfulfilling.

LeveragingR&DandTechnology

As a firm, we are passionate about growth and thismeansweneedtoinvestintheaboveinorder to achieve our goal My experience in the Ghanaian corporate environment revealed that professionals living in Ghana do not appreciate tourism. At the inial stages of TPC,professionals living in Ghana and people vising from abroad were our main target group. When we started operang as a business, we realised that geng

Ghanaian professionals to take part in our tours was very challenging. Even when they were interested in tours, their preference was to do so overseas. In 2021 we developed a quesonnaire and sent it to some medical doctors, lawyers, bankers, teachers, police officers, nurses and administrave professionals in Ghana in order to find out why they do not patronise tourism in Ghana. Belowaresomefindings;

a. TourisminGhanaisexpensive

b. Tourism is for students and not for professionals

c. Ghana does not have beauful aracons

These findings helped us with our markeng strategies and pricing. One strategy that is also helping is making PowerPoint presentaons to corporate groups. This means maximising R&D and technology will help us reach our vision, so wehopetoinvestmoreinthisarea.