AGI launches 2016 GUBA EXPO
The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has launched the second edition of the Ghana UK-Based Achievements (GUBA) Expo in Accra.
Dubbed the “GUBA EXPO 2016”, the annual event is slated for May 20 to May 22 , 2016 at Greenwich in the United Kingdom.
The EXPO, founded by GUBA Awards Limited, provides the platform for entrepreneurs to engage and share ideas that promote trade and investment between Ghana and UK.
Speaking at the launch, Madam Dentaa Amoateng, Chief Executive Officer, GUBA, said the EXPO was created in 2014 to provide a platform for African developers to showcase their services.
She said it was also to connect buyers and suppliers as well as create a platform for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to increase their marketing standards globally
A Ghana News Agency (GNA), report quoted her as saying that the 2016 edition, which would be a three-day event sought to make Ghanaian businesses access the UK market as well as deepen Ghana’s ties with the UK.
“The 2016 EXPO comes with seminars, workshops and exhibitions that will promote Made in Ghana products and services, create awareness and prestige for products and services,” she said.
Mr Nathaniel O. Quarcoopome, Director, Finance and Administration, AGI, lauded GUBA for the business to business EXPO that served as a platform of recognising achievements of Ghanaians especially SMEs and supporters of the community.
He said SMEs constituted an important nexus in Ghana’s industrial cluster and contributed significantly to employment across the world and so creating such a business opportunity platform for them was worthwhile.
He noted that though the SMEs constituted more than 80 per cent of businesses in Ghana and contributed a high percentage to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, a good majority of the SMEs fell short when it came to the growth and expansion of their businesses.
Mr Quarcoopome called on stakeholders to collaborate with GUBA for business to graduate from small to medium, and thence to industrial giants as the long-term benefits would be bigger.
He also urged Ghanaians to look at the area of possible match making and industrial sub-contracting arrangements.
“Our businesses also need to re-organise and re-position themselves to improve their capacities to deliver both in quantity and quality,” he said.
He therefore pledged AGI’s commitment to continue to support GUBA for its goal to be a worthy one for the country’s development.
The Deputy Leader, Royal Borough of Greenwich, Councilor John Fahy, said the opportunity between Ghana and the UK was vast and it required a workforce and personalities that had the skills to develop ideas.
Over the years, he said the UK had discovered Ghana as an ambitious community which sought to develop and improve the lives of communities, and the GUBA EXPO was a clear evidence.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Mr Gideon Quarcoo, , noted that the EXPO would provide the platform for Ghanaian and African inspired products to be showcased, that is creating an opportunity for and business development for Small and Medium Sized Businesses, as well as suppliers and prospects for larger organisations.
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Jon Benjamin, said the business relationship between Ghana and UK represented another major aspect of the excellent bilateral relations.
GUBA is a business to business EXPO that provides a platform to recognise the achievements of Ghanaians, especially SMEs and supporters of the community.