AGOA is the best to happen to Ghana - Garment exporter

Accra, July 17, GNA - The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is the best thing to happen to the Ghanaian business person, Ms. Nora Bannerman-Abbot, Chief Executive Officer of Sleek Garments Export Limited, said on Tuesday.

"AGOA has been the best for us because it has not only opened the United States markets for our products but has also made them more competitive," she explained.

Mrs Bannerman-Abbot said this when the Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Mrs Henrietta Fore led a delegation to the Sleek Garment Factory in Accra aspart of its programme for the ongoing AGOA Forum in Accra.

Sleek Export Limited early this year exported 75,000 casual rayon shirts valued over 200,000 dollars to a US Department Store.

Mrs Bannerman-Abbot said, "As for the orders for our products they keep coming and we have orders running throughout the year.

"Once you attend sourcing or trade shows in the US, you create and attract the markets for yourself."

Mrs Bannerman-Abbot is a recipient of USAID West Africa Trade Hub which conducts industry specific training and accompanies clients to major trade shows in the US.

She is one of the few short-listed to participate in the Accra AGOA Forum as a panellist from the private sector.

In 2002, Sleek Company produced its largest order of 10,000 garments, which qualified it to participate in the President's Special Initiative for Apparel

An information note made available to the GNA by the USAID said Sleek's story was a major success which would be replicated throughout West Africa.

Currently Ghana accounts for about 95 per cent of all AGOA textile and apparel exports from West Africa.