Ghana offers lucrative business opportunities

Martha Pobee, Ghana's charge d'affaires and deputy high commissioner to South Africa, said working with the private sector remains an imperative focus for the development of Ghana. "Ghana has attracted global attention and international businesses are keen to invest in various sectors of our economy. The attraction resonates from our advantageous social, political and economic environment in which they can invest, grow, and develop to be successful."

Pobee elaborated on the key sectors attracting business into Ghana, which includes oil and gas, energy, tourism, ICT, financial services, agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing and infrastructure. "Much interest has been shown in the recent discovery of oil in Ghana, which seems to be taking the shine out of the other equally lucrative and promising sectors. It is important to indicate from the onset that although this new sector has opened up additional opportunities for business, government is committed to promoting business in the other sectors, which remain crucial for development."

Increasing power generation

The Ghanaian government's energy policy wants to increase power generation capacity to 5 000MW by 2016 and achieving universal access to electric power by 2020. This is in recognition of the important role that energy plays in the overall development of the country and especially for industry. The government envisages a combination of thermal, hydro and renewable energy and aims to achieve gas-based generation for 80% of the thermal power plants by 2015.

Altogether, Ghana has an installed capacity of 1 980MW. The demand is currently 14 000MW and is growing at 10% per annum. It is estimated that Ghana would require capacity additions of about 200MW to catch up with the increasing demand in the medium to long term.

In June and September 2007, a consortium of companies in conjunction with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation announced the discovery of significant quantities of oil and gas in the offshore deep water Tano/Cape Three Points basins located in the southernmost part of Ghana. The total value of crude oil exports in 2011 was US$2.7bn and this is expected to rise as production levels increase and work on the other discoveries is completed.

Discovery of oil

Furthermore, the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in Ghana presents enormous opportunities for the services industry. It is estimated that US$5bn worth of business will be generated annually in support services for the oil and gas sector. Due to the emerging nature of the industry, opportunities exist in virtually every area of the petroleum industry both upstream and downstream.

57% of Ghana's total land area of 23.9 million hectares is suitable for agricultural purposes. In the forest zone, where rainfall is plentiful, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, cashew and rubber are cultivated. In the northern savanna zone, which is the largest agricultural zone, crops such as rice, millet and tomatoes are cultivated on a relatively large scale. The zone is also well-suited for livestock farming, including commercial ostrich farming. Business opportunities exist for agricultural inputs and irrigation facilities.

This sector has seen a total transformation in the last eight years and has grown considerably. The value of exports of horticultural products has steadily increased over the years. In 2011 it amounted to US$55m as compared to US$49 in 2010.