Ambassador Mike Oquaye Jnr, GFZA Chief Executive
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Free Zones Authority (GFZA), Mike Oquaye Jr., has pledged the commitment of the Authority to support free zone companies to achieve more exports as Ghana takes the needed steps to address its structural economic challenges.
He noted that accelerating the country’s export drive is imperative to achieving the Ghana beyond aid agenda.
Ambassador Mike Oquaye Jr. made this remark when he kicked off the week-long engagement with licensed free zone companies in the Ashanti and Western regions.
The engagements
In the Ashanti region, Â the CEO stressed the need for Ashanti-based industrialists with export orientation to take advantage of available incentives.
As part of the tour, the team visited Juaben Oil Mills Limited, an agro-processing company at the heart of adding value to oil palm, among others.
The team also visited OLAM Ghana Limited, one of Ghana’s largest licensed agro-food processing firms. OLAM Ghana is an adept buyer and exporter of processed cocoa, cashew, and rice in Ghana.
The next company visited by the team was Logs & Lumber Ghana Limited, one of the leading timber logging and processing companies in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
Amb. Mike Oquaye expressed satisfaction at the level of progress and the contributions these companies were adding to the economy.
The GFZA team later paid a courtesy call to the Omanhene of the Juaben Traditional Area, Nana Otuo Siriboe II.
Amb. Mike Oquaye expressed gratitude to the Omanhene for continually supporting industrialisation, and for guiding and shaping the growth of Juaben Oil Mills from inception to date.
Nana Otuo Siriboe II commended Amb. Mike Oquaye for his stellar performance at the GFZA, and urged him to do more to achieve the mandate given to him by the President on behalf of the people of Ghana.
Land-related issues
In the Western Region, Ambassador Oquaye visited the Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, to discuss pertinent land-related issues before heading to the Lands Commission with the team.
The GFZA team then met with the CEO and management team of Wayoe Engineering & Construction Limited, one of the largest privately-owned Ghanaian engineering and construction companies in West Africa.
The group toured the new factory of the company to get a sense of the investment the company had made and its growth potential.
The team then visited Amalitech Limited, a social enterprise that harnesses the potential of remote work to build the future of work in sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the one-week working visit, Amb Mike Oquaye expressed satisfaction with the achievements of many of the institutions in the two regions.
He also charged the regional heads of the GFZA to continue delivering value to all GFZA-licensed businesses.
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