Compensate communities generously - Asantehene tells corporate institutions

Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has urged corporate organisations to generously compensate communities in which they operate from the profits they make to enable them to develop.

He said they should do this through their corporate social activities so that the communities would benefit directly from the profits the companies make.

The Asantehene commended Ecom Ghana Ltd, a commodity trading company, on its recent collaboration with the Otumfuo Mobile Library Project to extend education to deprived communities in the country.

Ecom Ghana Ltd is a global agro-industrial and commodity trading and processing company with its headquarters in Switzerland.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II made the assertions in an address read on his behalf by the Bantamahene, Baffour Owusu Amankwatia IV, at the inauguration of a new office building for Ecom Ghana Ltd in Kumasi.

Operations

The new office is located within the Ark building at Asokwa in Kumasi and accommodates the following companies under the Ecom group: Agroecom Ltd, a cocoa buying company; Unicom Commodities Ghana, a cocoa buying company; Crop Doctor, an agro-chemical company; Sustainable Management Service, a farmers advisory services company; Kiteko Ghana Ltd, a logistics and haulage company, and Unicom Specialty Commodities, a cashew, ginger and sesame buying company.

Ecom

According to the Asantehene, “every nation has an interest in developing its economy so that there will be enough food for the people to eat, education for the youth, healthcare for the sick, accommodation and jobs for the people”.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ecom Ghana Ltd, Mr Andrew Hill, attributed the successes chalked up by the company to the hard work and dedication of staff and management, as well as support from partners, including chocolate manufacturers and cocoa farmers.

He said: “We have grown because we listen to our customers and we are very pleased to be in the forefront of the traceable sustainable supply-chain systems which has led to improvement in the income our farmers and contributed to make the quality of our products better”.

Rural empowerment

The Board Chairman of Ecom Ghana Ltd, Mr Jose Estev, said the company was a major player in the coffee, cotton and cocoa sectors and operated in over 35 countries and was a global leader in traceable cocoa.

He stated: “Our goal is to create prosperity in rural communities through innovation, efficiency and empowerment.”

He added that to enhance productivity, the company provided advisory services for farmers, gave them quality agro-inputs at affordable prices and offered training advice through crop doctor to enable them to improve on productivity.

The Head of Ecom, Africa, Mr Rahul Gopinath, said the new office was not just a physical structure but a cumulation of a 17-year journey that began in the early 2000 in a small office at Santasi in Kumasi.

He commended the Asantehene for his support in ensuring that the company operated in a friendly environment in Kumasi and the entire country.

The expatriate executive of Ecom Ghana Ltd, who were in the country for the inauguration of the new office building, took advantage of the occasion to meet with farmers in remote areas of the country.