Chamber of Commerce to boost Unilever and B5 Plus operations

Nana Appiagyei Dankawoso I, the President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GNCCI), has pledged the Chamber’s preparedness to help Unilever Ghana Limited and steel manufacturing company; B5 Plus Limited, to address their operational challenges.

This would help them work effectively to generate revenue for socio-economic development.

Nana Dankawoso said this during a business tour embarked upon by the GNCCI to the two companies in Tema, on Wednesday, to inspect their operations and identify challenges that needed attention.

The tour provided an avenue for the GNCCI to promote the brands and best practices of the companies in the globally competitive business spaces as they were sources of revenue generation for the state.

Nana Dankawoso said the Chamber had a legislative mandate to promote and protect commercial and industrial interests and had, over the years, provided myriads of opportunities for business linkages and networks, partnerships and capacity building.

Unilever, he said, used the opportunity to share the secret of its sustenance and success for over 100 years doing business in Ghana.
Nana Dankawoso said B5Plus also shared how it had continued to progress for over 16 years, thereby, creating thousands of jobs for Ghanaians and other Africans.

“Governments would come and go but the private sector would continue to serve as agents for growth so let’s try to patronise their products,” he said.
Nana Dankawoso urged the companies to use the Chamber’s activities, including its upcoming Business Awards, to market their products.

He gave the assurance that the Chamber would continue to engage governments and stakeholders through evidence-based advocacy for continuous improvements in the business environment.

Mr Mukesh Thakwani, the Chief Executive Officer of B5 Plus Limited, expressed gratitude to the GNCCI for its support towards the progress of the company.

He said the company had noticed that a higher percentage of steel used in the country was imported, therefore, it had commenced establishing a bigger steel manufacturing company at Ningo-Prampram to produce more of the steel for local use.
The project, when complete, would save the country about 100 million dollars in foreign exchange, an amount the Government could use to undertake other developmental projects.

Mr Thakwani explained that 80 million dollars was invested in the first phase of the project, which would provide additional 10,000 direct and indirect jobs for the citizenry.

Mr Nazaire Djako, the Acting Managing Director of Unilever Ghana Limited, said the company was confident of the quality of its products and, as a result, not bothered by the competitive business space in the country.

He said it used more raw materials from the palm tree for its products and encouraged other companies to use locally sourced raw materials for their production to create employment and generate revenue for the country.

He advised companies to improve on their productivity and effectiveness to reduce the rate of imports and increase exports to grow the economy.