Criss-crossing parts of the country in the past few weeks has revealed some unnoticed, but significant trends to me.
It is something that has engaged my attention for sometime now and I find it quiet worrying.
It appears to me as though many strategic business opportunities with great potentials as well the capacity to rake in revenue for the state, while providing employment for the people especially the youth, are dominated by multinationals.
The trade laws and regulations in Ghana, I believe permit local people solely to do retail trading even though it permits foreigners to do same within a certain threshold.
Despite the allowance for foreigners to participate in the retail trade within a certain threshold, it is gradually becoming the rule rather than the exception.
For example, many shops and malls located in the big cities, especially, Accra and Kumasi, are owned by foreign nationals.
While ordinarily, there is nothing wrong with foreign nationals participating in business activities in Ghana, there is very important reason why the rules governing retail trade are tailored in favour of Ghanaians.
The rationale is to create a level playing field for Ghanaians to become the major beneficiaries of that space, and this is largely due to the weak financial muscle of the Ghanaian.
Unfortunately, the retail space, like all other spheres of the Ghanaian economy, is gradually being taken over by foreign nationals while the locals look on hapless and helpless.
Today, all the big supermarkets and shopping malls cited in the big cities like Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi are either owned by foreigners or in some cases with some minimal level of local partnership.
As one traverses the country, one sees the springing up of new and huge malls and supermarkets across.
While this should be a welcoming news, the opposite is the case.
Most of these shops are owned by expatriates and not Ghanaians and this is quiet dangerous.
Hitherto, the only expatriates dominating in this space, were the South Africans who introduced Ghanaians to the Shoprites, Pick and Pays and the West Hills, however, today, the Chinese have also found space within and are busily dominating in it.
Rather worrying, the situation is not any different in the other sectors of the economy including; the mining sector, real estate and the automobile industries.
In a country where unemployment remains a major challenge, one of the solutions often prescribed for dealing with it is empowering the locals to venture into private businesses, including; the retail business.
The ability of Ghanaians to own their businesses means they will create the needed job avenues and offer employment to their fellow Ghanaians in order to break the cycle of poverty.
Even though allowing foreigners to participate in the local economy to some extent also leads to some level of employment creation, a careful assessment of their activities will reveal that, the negative impact to the general economic ecosystem far outweighs the benefits.
Apart from crowding out local Ghanaians from the business space due to their financial muscles, these entities also impact negatively on the country’s foreign exchange regime.
This is explained by the fact that these expatriates who are most often supported with such incentives as tax holidays, tax cuts and other facilities are not only empowered to takeover businesses of the locals, but also repatriate their monies back to their home countries after they have declared profit.
This directly or indirectly weakens the local currency, induces inflation and escalates prices of basic goods and services making life difficult for the ordinary man.
One cannot be oblivious of the fact that, in many cases, these expatriates bring in their resources to also support the economy by employing some of our citizens, but the preponderance always lies in the inimical outcome of the whole scenario.
In as much as government is encouraging citizens to establish themselves by opening their own businesses, steps must be taken to resource and support the Ghanaian people to become effective private sector participants if government really wants to grow and expand the economy to mitigate poverty and the sufferings of the people.
*What can government do to help*?
It is important to note that majority of these multinationals dominating the business sector are richer and have stronger financial muscles than most of the local business men here.
The strong financial muscle of these foreign individuals is underpinned by the favourable economic environment in their respective countries including very low interest rates with long-term repayment duration.
The low interest rates affords them the opportunity to borrow hugely from their banks with little or sometimes no interest.
This enables them to come in with millions of dollars into the country which enables them afford the high cost of prime lands to build and operate.
In contrast, the prevailing economic conditions in our country including high interest rates make it extremely difficult and near impossible for our local business people to compete with these multinationals.
Even though the government and the Bank of Ghana are doing their best to bring interest rates down by reducing the policy rate but more needs to be done.
By: Prince Adjei – Guy Gee
The writer holds an MA. (Public Administration) as the Manager, Data Management.
Acting – Project Manger
Oversee the development and use of company data systems, and guarantee that all information to and from the company runs timely and securely. Develop and implement procedures for effective data management. Create rules and procedures for data sharing. Oversee and manage staff members in the daily use of data system. Regular monitor and evaluate information and data systems that could affect analytical results.
He has managed projects in Records, Information and Management, where he was a finalist for the PMI®️ Project of the Year. He holds an MPA from Kean University, Union, New Jersey and a current PMP®️ certification.
