Brompton Portfolio Limited opens under 1D1F initiative

A tissue paper manufacturing factory, Brompton Portfolio Limited, has been inaugurated at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison under the government’s ‘One district, One factory’ (1D1F) initiative.

The facility will produce toilet rolls, tissue paper, paper towels and packaging products.

The toilet rolls and tissue papers are under the brand name SOFTEX and are suitable for domestic and industrial purposes.

The cost of the project is estimated at GH¢4 million, with financing provided by NIB and GCB Bank through the facilitation of the 1D1F programme.

Brompton Portfolio entered into a joint venture agreement with the Ghana Prisons Service to set up a commercial toilet paper manufacturing plant.

Certification

Brompton Portfolio Limited has received certification from the Ghana Standards Authority, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Ghana Free Zones Authority.

In his inaugural address, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, said as the engine of growth, the private sector could count on government support so it could make important contributions towards national development.

The inauguration of the factory, he said, was evidence of the government’s commitment to empower the private sector to flourish.

He charged Ghanaians to have confidence in themselves and believe that since others had been able to industrialise, they too could do so.

Percentage

Thirty per cent of the tax garnered from the factory, he said, would be used to support the Nsawam Prisons.

The National Coordinator of the 1D1F, Ms Gifty Konadu, said the inmates would be able to earn stipends which they could use to support their families while in custody or save to look after themselves when they left prison.

“Apart from enabling inmates and the Prisons Service to gain sustainable incomes, the acquisition of technical and entrepreneurial knowledge will greatly shape the future of those who would be engaged directly as factory hands in the production process,” she said.

She said the high suicide rate among inmates and ex-convicts could be reduced when such persons were encouraged to engage in productive ventures and exercise their minds in one way or the other to regain self-confidence.

Partnership

For his part, the Managing Director of Brompton Portfolio Limited, Mr James Yankah, said the partnership between the company and the Ghana Prisons Service would enhance the prison work programme to make it easier for inmates to find jobs upon their release.

“It has been proven over time that inmates who are given the opportunity to engage in prison work programmes while incarcerated find it easy to find work once they are released,” he said.
The benefits of prison work programmes, he said, went deeper than just job training.

Mr Yankah noted that it was a Strategic Development Plan to set in motion several strategies to enhance the conditions of the country’s prisons and that the aim was to promote Public Private Partnerships to finance these development projects.

“Brompton Portfolio Limited and Ghana Prisons Service consequently went into a partnership to develop this toilet paper production factory under the brand “Softex”.

The partnership was further boosted when Brompton Portfolio was selected as the project for the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality under the government’s One District, One Factory Initiative,” he said.