info@businessghana.com
The acting Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Professor George Agyei, has called on Ghanaian manufacturers to treat standards compliance not as a regulatory burden but as a competitive tool critical to accessing global and continental markets.
Speaking at the 10th Ghana Manufacturing Awards last Saturday, he stated that the single biggest non-tariff barrier facing Ghanaian manufactured goods in export markets was not pricing or logistics, but the inability to demonstrate credibly that products met the technical requirements of destination markets.
"A 24-hour economy producing non-conforming goods is a 24-hour economy generating liabilities," Prof. Agyei cautioned, stressing that conformity assessment was the passport through which Ghana's round-the-clock output could enter global value chains.
Prof. Agyei's speech was on the theme: "The Role of Manufacturing in Ghana's 24-Hour Economy Agenda".
The event, organised by Xodus Communications, brought together the bigwigs in the manufacturing sector to celebrate companies and individuals who demonstrate outstanding performance in various categories, including stewardship, health and safety, corporate social responsibility and innovation in the industry.
Qualiplast Limited won the Manufacturing Company of the Year, with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jay Kay Industries and Investments Ltd, Pawan Aidasani, winning the CEO of the Decade and Mukesh V. Thakwani of B5 Plus Ltd winning the Entrepreneur of the Decade.
Twenty-three other companies received awards under various categories.
The GSA boss said that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose Secretariat is headquartered in Accra, was operationalised through a technical architecture built on harmonised African standards and that access to the continental market of 1.4 billion consumers remained effectively closed to manufacturers without a standards compliance infrastructure.
On metrology, Prof. Agyei cited a World Bank estimate that investment in national metrology infrastructure yields an average return of 12 to one in productivity and export gains for developing economies, arguing that measurement accuracy was a direct business case rather than a soft development argument.
He announced that GSA was developing a dedicated Manufacturing Standards Support Programme to work directly with firms on standards mapping, certification readiness and calibration services, with details to be published in the coming weeks.
The CEO of Xodus Communications Limited, Richard Abbey Jnr. highlighted the critical role of innovation in the manufacturing sector.
The awards, he said, not only celebrate champions who excelled in production but also those who contributed positively to society through CSR initiatives, such as significant donations to community health centres.
Following his visit to some of the production sites of the company, Mr Abbey Jnr. pointed out challenges such as road infrastructure affecting logistics and the impact of tariffs on imports.
He announced that next year, the Forty Under 40 awards would be hosted for the first time in the United States.
