Local distilleries not our competitors but foreign brands – GIHOC CEO

Maxwell Kofi Jumah is Managing Director of GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited

The Managing Director of GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited, Maxwell Kofi Jumah has indicated that the state-owned alcoholic manufacturer does not consider other local substitutes as competiton.

Speaking to show host Nana Yaw Adwenpa on CTV's Anopa Dwabre Mu show on Tuesday, 9 March 2021, Mr Jumah noted that he has a very good personal relationship with the leaderships of other local alcoholic beverages brands such as Kasapreko, Adonko, Joy Daddy among others.

He disclosed that they share a common goal of collaborating against the "bigger enemy", foreign brands imported into the country.

"Our competition is the foreign brands," he said.

He noted that collaborations will be beneficial to the country rather than competing locally because "we want Ghana to be known for producing the best alcoholic beverages".

GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited was the first modern distillery to be established in West Africa. It was established by the pre-independence Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in 1958 as the State Distilleries Corporation for the manufacture of alcoholic beverages.

The company became a division of the then Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) in 1968.

In 1980, the distillery together with 15 other divisions of GIHOC was reregistered and incorporated as a Limited Liability Company and wholly-owned subsidiary of GIHOC, under Ghana’s Companies Code, 1963 (Act 179).

Following the closure of GIHOC, and subsequently the repeal of the statute incorporating it in 1993, GIHOC Distilleries became and has since remained a limited liability company, wholly owned by the Government of Ghana.

GDCL has since then performed creditably and established itself as a commercially sustainable enterprise in the alcoholic beverage industry in Ghana. It has over the years perfected the art of distillation, refinery, blending and manufacture of various types of alcoholic beverages for the local market and beyond and is now recognised as a market leader.