The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Maa Grace Company Limited, a garment manufacturing company in Koforidua, Madam Comfort Owusu-Agyemang, has disclosed that over 600 young people within the New Juaben North Municipality and its environs have been employed by the company, which is under the government’s flagship programme ‘1 District, 1 Factory’ initiative.
She added that with the support of the Trade and Industry Ministry and the Ghana EXIM bank, the number of persons to be employed is expected to increase significantly, which is likely to help in preventing or reducing rural-urban migration considerably.
Mrs Comfort Owusu-Agyemang said this during the commissioning ceremony of the garment factory by President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, in Koforidua.
She was grateful for the significant employment opportunities created by the company, which underscores the strategic intervention the 1D1F programme is playing in fixing the challenges that confront Ghanaians, particularly youth unemployment.
The garment company
The Maa Grace Company Limited is a revived garment manufacturing company in Koforidua, operating under the government’s ‘1-District-1-Factory’ initiative.
The factory was first established in 2003 by the erstwhile Kufour administration, but went down for years as a result of numerous operational challenges.
However, in 2017, the company applied for support under the 1D1F initiative and has since been resuscitated to operate fully. The company is currently equipped with 600 industrial sewing machines.
It is specialized in the production of utility clothing, uniforms for security forces, hospital scrubs, uniforms for hotels, uniforms for schools and production of standardised uniforms.
Production
As a result of government’s support, from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ghana EXIM Bank, the company in 2019 and 2020 cumulatively exported 20,000 hospital scrubs and chefs uniforms to the United States of America.
At the onset of the Covid-19, the company also played a leading role in the production of PPEs. Within a short period of time, the company produced over two million nose masks, 18,000 hospital gowns and head covers, as well as 12,000 medical scrubs.