A Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, has urged Ghanaian companies to ensure quality in their products and services to be able to compete in the international market.
He said in the last 15 years, it was only companies that had managed to provide quality to their consumers that had survived the test of time.
“Quality which is linked to innovation is the surest way of ensuring the survival of companies,” he said.
Mr Ahomka-Lindsay made the call at the second edition of the Ghana Business Quality Awards held in Accra last Saturday.
Thirty-two companies and business executives were given awards for ensuring premium quality in their respective products and services.
Mr Ahomka-Lindsay said it was crucial for local companies to let quality be at the crux of whatever they were doing.
“Those who have managed to provide quality to their consumers have been the ones who have been able to survive the test of time,” he said.
Engine of growth
Mr Ahomka-Lindsay said the government believed that the private sector should be the engine of growth and the one that would drive the Ghana Beyond Aid and industrialisation agenda.
He affirmed the commitment of the government to provide the needed environment and incentives for the private sector to thrive.
Mr Ahomka-Lindsay said it was important to celebrate Ghanaian businesses and entrepreneurs to encourage them to offer more for the country.
“It is critical as we seek to develop our own, as we seek to join in partnership with our foreign investors, as we seek as a country to take our place at the table with international business people, we celebrate Ghanaian businesses, entrepreneurs and businesses because we have to find a way to encourage the next generation,” he said.
Quality awards
The quality awards was organised by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana (EFG) in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Sector Development.
It seeks to promote quality leadership, premium quality products and services in the country. The event was held on the theme: “Building Ghana Beyond Aid: the Role of the Private Sector in Economic Growth and Job Creation”.
The Chairman of Interplast Limited, Mr Saied Assad Fakhry, emerged as the overall best business icon of the year, while Groupe Nduom was adjudged the premium quality group of companies of the year.
The award for the best quality indigenous bank went to Fidelity Bank, while the award for best financial service provider went to Barclays Bank.
The Intercity STC Coaches Limited took the award for premium transport company while the health insurance service company of the year went to Nationwide Medical Insurance.
Speaking with journalists after the awards, the founder of EFG, Mr Sam Ato Gaisie, said the foundation sought to encourage Ghanaian companies to aspire for premium quality in their products and services.
He said the aim was to enable the companies to produce goods and services that could favourably compete with imported products and services.
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