Ghanaians entreated to stop fronting for foreign businesses

He explained that this act allows the foreign businesses to dominate important sectors of the economy, such as telecommunications, banking and finance, oil and gas and insurance, at the expense of indigenous ones.

This also makes foreign-owned firms take undue advantage of incentives meant for Ghanaian-owned businesses, thereby allowing them to gain an upper hand in the business environment.

“When foreign businesses come to Ghana, they know there are some incentives we give to Ghanaian-owned businesses from the government and the Ghana Investment Promotion Council, such as tax breaks and other services,” he added.

Speaking at the 59th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the GEA, Dr Awal said: “Ghanaians must stop using their faces to bring in foreign businesses to register and operate, and after two years, hand over the businesses to the foreigners”.

“You must rather have a partnership with a foreigner so that you can get capital injection, expertise, discipline and know-how, and competence to build solid Ghanaian businesses that can last to create employment for the people,” he added.

Foreign dominance

Dr Awal explained that even though Ghana had benefitted from a lot of foreign aid, it had not helped much in the rapid growth of its economy.

He said out of the best 100 companies in Ghana, indigenous Ghanaian ownership was less than 20%, a situation he described as bad for the economy.

He indicated that even though the government encourages foreign direct investment (FDI) and private injection of capital, “that should not take away indigenous businesses”.