The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its implications for businesses will be the focus for Stanford Seed Transformation Network (STN), Ghana’s business and leadership conference.

The conference, to be held on October 22, 2020, in Accra would be on the theme: “Embracing forced change within diverse cultures."

A statement issued in Accra by Mrs. Linda Yaa Ampah, President for STN Ghana said the theme for the conference was very critical, explaining that there were concerns about the implementation of the AfCFTA and its impact on Ghanaian businesses.

It expressed excitement about the upcoming conference which has been enabled by new technologies despite COVID-19.

The conference would empower businesses to embrace changes and seek solutions that would ensure business sustainability and success despite the COVID-19 challenges.

It said the event would be streamed online on Facebook, YouTube and Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said “The AfCFTA secretariat is targeting January 2021, for the commencement of the implementation of the Pan African free trade agreement following its postponement due to the outbreak of the coronavirus and it is imperative that Ghanaian businesses ready themselves for the benefits that AfCFTA brings during COVID-19 and post COVID-19, a pandemic, which is a major challenge for many businesses."

Renowned and experienced business leaders to speak at the conference includes Dr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi CEO, Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited, Nana Dr. Michael Agyekum Addo CEO, Mikaddo Holdings, Ms. Esther A. N. Cobbah CEO, Stratcomm Africa and Mr. David Ofosu-Dorte Senior Partner, AB & David.

They will share their experiences on how they have leveraged cultural challenges and differences to scale up their businesses over the years.

The statement said the conference was open to all STN members, the public especially entrepreneurs, government officials, media, and the entire business community.

The statement said it was confident that through the conference, participants would take home new mindsets, approaches and pragmatic solutions to transform businesses.

"We are therefore seeking to use this conference to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, information, experience and skills among stakeholders in the business to brace ourselves for the challenges ahead in this COVID-19 era," it added.