The Chief Executive Officer of Zonda Tec Ghana, Yang Yang, has called for a shift in Ghana’s economic mindset from trading to engineering, saying the country must develop the technical skills needed to maintain machinery and support its growing industrial sector.

She said Ghana risked missing opportunities to create jobs and build local expertise if businesses focused mainly on importing and selling equipment without investing in the skills required to service and maintain them.

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Speaking at the launch of Zonda’s new light-duty truck range in Accra on Thursday, October 15, 2026, Yang said the company was bringing engineers to Ghana to train local workers as part of its efforts to expand vehicle assembly, rather than focusing solely on importing finished vehicles for sale.

“Me, Madam Yang, as the CEO of Zonda, I strongly advocate that we need to shift from trading to engineering. If everyone is only concentrating on trading, who is here to service the machinery, the trucks for our customers?” she asked.

Her remarks highlight the need for local assembly to go beyond putting vehicles together to developing engineers and technicians who can maintain machinery and support the growth of Ghana’s manufacturing industry.

Yang cited the company’s work with major customers, including Kofi Jobs, where she said Zonda had deployed engineers to train local engineers.

At its assembly operations, foreign engineers are also training Ghanaian technicians to assemble trucks with load capacities of 2.7 tonnes, five tonnes, eight tonnes and 12 tonnes.

She said the transfer of technical knowledge could help Ghana make better use of its human resources, particularly its young population, while developing the skills needed to support industrial growth.

“Ghana, we are full of not only mining resources, but we are also full of human resources,” she said.

Yang urged the government to place greater emphasis on engineering, particularly automotive engineering, to create decent jobs and strengthen local industrial capacity.

She said the decision to assemble trucks in Ghana was deliberate, despite the possibility of making more money by importing fully assembled vehicles.

“That’s why I bring Sino trucks to come to Ghana to assemble the light trucks. I can just bring the complete products for trading. It will earn me more money,” she said.

ANAS/MA

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