Ghanaians urged to patronise locally made goods

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Logo of Ghana Made Awards 2014
Logo of Ghana Made Awards 2014

The Second Ghana Made Awards 2014, organised by Entrepreneurs Foundation Ghana (EFG) was held in Accra, at the weekend.

Logo of Ghana Made Awards 2014
Logo of Ghana Made Awards 2014

The Ghana Made Award seeks to reward Ghanaian made products from small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs)and also expose their products to domestic and international markets.

Mr Sam Ato Gaisie, Founder and President of EFG, said the key objective of the award is to provide the platform for Ghanaian consumers to patronise Ghana made products, create awareness, loyalty, recognition and prestige for Ghana made products.

He said it is also aims at encouraging Ghanaian industries to make significant improvements in product excellence, innovation and quality to meet the challenges of domestic and international markets.

Mr Gaisie said the awards would be held annually to offer opportunity to the manufacturing industries to gain competitive advantage by having their products recognised on a prominent and far-reaching scale.
Speaking on the theme ?Industrialisation, the key Strategy for Accelerated Economic Development and Job Creation,? Mrs Monah Helen Kortey, Deputy Minister of Finance, urged Ghanaians to patronise locally made goods to help create more employment and grow the economy.
?Patronising Ghanaian made products will ensure keeping our family members employed thereby contributing to the economic development of our dear nation Ghana,? she said.
She described as worrying the situation where the country?s export is far less than import.
?Excessive importation heightens the country?s bills, increases demand and inflates exchange rates of the international trading currencies, thereby causing uncontrollable price hikes of goods and services and also create hardships and poverty for the people,? she said.

She therefore urged Ghanaians to positively respond to the Made In Ghana Campaign by President John Dramani Mahama to patronise locally made goods.

Mr Kweku Ricketts Hagan, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry commended the award winners for their exemplary works.

He bemoaned the situation where most Ghanaians have developed taste for foreign products to the neglect of the locally manufactured goods.

He said, Ghanaians should not be oblivious of the need to buy made in Ghana products as it is the only way that would help the economy grow and also create jobs for the unemployed.

He said government is committed to developing the local industries and would be constructing model markets across the country to encourage people to buy Ghana made products.

He said the Ministry has also developed a web based market to allow SMEs industries to market their products for free.

He therefore urged all SME?s to take advantage and hooked on to the site to sell their products.

During the presentation of the award, 26 companies won in several categories and Frytol Cooking Vegetable Oil, a product of Wilmar Africa Limited, was adjudged the overall best Ghana Made Product of the Year.

GNA

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