DANIDA hands over $3.5m security printing facility to ICPS

The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) has handed over $3.5 million state –of –the art and security printing facility to Intelligent Card Production (ICPS),a Ghanaian company which is a subsidiary of Marvin Group .

The DANIDA mixed credit is part of a $ 10 million ICPS upgrade project to enable the company to upgrade its security and printing facilities.

Speaking at a ceremony to officially hand over the facility, Margit Thompson, Danish Ambassador to Ghana said the facility would put ICPS in pole position to be an African wide leader in security printing and manufacture of documents and cards, identity solutions and secure applications.

She said until recently Ghana’s security printings were done outside the country using foreign currency, adding that, the operations of the company locally would save the country the cost of importing security printings and cards.

The Ambassador said she was hopeful that the company would take advantage of its facility to explore opportunities in the West African sub-region.

She said DANIDA’s support for businesses in the country had helped in the creation of jobs in the country.

The support under a DANIDA mixed credit facility will see ICPS undertake the printing of the full range of security documents, personalised identification cards, as well as fully configured data card personalisation systems that will see a transformational change in the company’s technical ability in the areas of secure printing and manufacture of high security documents and cards, identity solutions and secure applications.

With the new facility, the company will become the only factory in Ghana certified for the manufacturing and production of Europay, MasterCard, Visa and other high security internationally certified documents.

The Ambassador pledged her support to Margins Group, to assist the company to meet its goal of being the first and only Ghanaian-owned company certified in card and security printing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ms. Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Foreign Affairs commended the company for the strides it had made in the area of card and security printing.

She said the acquisition of the facility presents an opportunity for the company to venture into the ECOWAS market.

Mr. Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State responsible for Private-Public Partnership (PPP) assured of the government’s support for companies interested in PPP.

He urged the company to take students on internships and attachment to prepare them for the job market.

Mr. Moses Baiden, Chairman of Margins Group said the mixed credit facility was a bold step to the operational advancement of the company.

“The upgrade of our facility will enable the company to achieve its vision of producing world-class products in Ghana and contribute to the knowledge industry in the area of secured printing across different form factors such as ID cards, cheque and labels in the country and the West African sub-region,” he said.

Mr. Baiden said “despite the challenges in our environment we still believe that Ghana is a fantastic location for business, and as a majority Ghanaian owned company, our vision is not only profit, we are affirming the call of successive governments that the private sector is the real engine of growth.”

He urged the government to ensure the policy framework within which the company works, to benefit Ghanaian companies.