GIPA (Ghana Investment Promotion Authority) has identified about 100 investment-ready projects, largely in manufacturing and infrastructure, to present to international investors at the maiden Invest in Ghana Summit, seeking to attract capital to expand domestic production.
The projects were selected from a pipeline of more than 600 opportunities gathered through regional investment roadshows and engagements with the country’s 261 districts, Simon Madjie, chief executive officer of GIPA, said in an interview on Citi FM.
“We want to narrow it down to about 100 projects that will be on display at our first maiden Ghana International Investment Summit, or the Invest Ghana Summit,” Madjie said.
The projects will be presented through deal rooms where prospective investors can examine opportunities and engage with government officials and technical experts. Madjie said the authority had completed the preparatory work to make the projects ready for investment. “These are ready. We’ve done the homework, so we’re putting it out,” he said.
The pipeline is concentrated mainly in manufacturing and infrastructure, with some public-private partnership projects sourced through the Ministry of Finance. The selection also involved the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme, Ghana Free Zones Authority, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the AfCFTA Coordination Office and the ministries of Trade, Finance and Foreign Affairs.
The summit, scheduled for Nov. 16 and 17 in Accra, is designed to connect investors with projects across the country’s 16 regions. Regional ministers are expected to make presentations on investment opportunities in their respective areas on the second day.
Madjie said the project pipeline emerged from a push to give domestic investment greater attention alongside efforts to attract foreign direct investment.
“When I was appointed, we realised that local investment is very critical for advancing what we want to do as a country,” he said.
The authority’s approach is intended to identify opportunities beyond the traditional investment centres and present projects from districts and regions to investors who may be looking for opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure.
Madjie said manufacturing accounts for the largest share of Ghana’s registered investment projects, with major investors in the sector coming mainly from China and India. He said the concentration of foreign investors in manufacturing was reflected in the authority’s investment data.
The summit is expected to attract more than 100 international guests from 32 countries, alongside local business leaders, policymakers and financiers. African industrialist Aliko Dangote will attend as a special guest and discuss his experience investing across the continent and opportunities to expand regional business.
Madjie said the authority would assess the summit’s impact partly through the level of investor interest generated in the projects presented, rather than attendance alone.
The event is intended to become an annual platform for promoting investment opportunities across Ghana.
