Mrs. Nora Bannerman Abbott CEO of Sleek Garments Exports Limited and a pioneer in Ghana’s garment exports has said that, if the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is not renewed, Ghana’s textile industry will need to pivot quickly, and the path forward, she said starts from citizens.
Mrs. Abbott said, domestic procurement, stronger regional sales under AfCFTA, predictable financing and lower production costs are the most practical routes to protect jobs and rebuild local capacity.
She pointed to the sector’s track record when support and enabling conditions existed. She recalled how local factories scaled to export large volumes once training, technical expertise and competitive financing were in place, showing Ghana can compete on quality and scale.
“We proved we can compete on quality and scale,” she said, noting that today only one factory in Ghana is exporting significant volumes to the U.S. under AGOA.
Much of Abbott’s critique focused on how local procurement and payment terms undermine manufacturers. “Why do we advance-pay abroad but make our own manufacturers wait three months for payment?” she asked, calling that practice a “self-inflicted injury” that strips jobs from Ghanaian youth and undercuts domestic investors.
She urged public institutions to prioritize local sourcing for uniforms, hospital linens, towels and other perennial needs, and to adopt advance or milestone payment terms for verified local manufacturers.
Abbott also stressed that competitiveness requires addressing the cost base which are, reliable, affordable power, lower and predictable taxes, and targeted long-term finance that supports multi-year processing investments rather than short-term trade credit.
She argued that many of the obstacles to scaling processing capacity are structural from high energy costs to the absence of financing instruments tailored to processing plants and must be fixed if factories are to expand and absorb labour.
Regional markets under the African Continental Free Trade Area, she said, represent the most viable near-term alternative to lost U.S. demand.
She urged manufacturers and policymakers to fast-track trade shows, regional distribution partnerships and market-linking platforms so Ghanaian factories can sell into neighbouring markets.
“If AGOA goes, it will hurt. But it does not remove our markets,” she said, calling the moment an opportunity to “fix our cost base, demand local procurement, and turn what we have into jobs for our youth.”
Mrs. Abbott said that government revival funds should reach multiple manufacturers and be tied to practical conditions, finance, training, and infrastructure rather than being concentrated on a single flagship firm.
She proposed a national “virtual roundtable” of ministries, procurement agencies and industry to diagnose and remove cost drivers that make local production uncompetitive.
Mrs. Abbott believes that, fair procurement and advance payments, secure targeted long-term finance, cut production costs, and scale into domestic and African markets can preserve jobs and make Ghanaian textiles more resilient to external policy shocks.
