President of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana (EFG) Mr. Sam Ato Gaisie says the national call for a progressive job-based economy can only be achieved through extensive industrialisation and readiness of the public to patronise locally-manufactured goods and services.

“We seem to ignore the numerous calls for an industrialised economy; but the truth stands that it is the key strategy to accelerate development of Ghana’s economy and also create lots of jobs to address the alarming unemployment rate in the country.

“Secondly, we cannot give up on the call for the public to patronise made-in-Ghana goods and services in order to save the cedi from depreciation, a situation that can be addressed by limiting imports to the country.

“The public should make a conscious effort to buy and use made-in-Ghana products; the more we do this, the more we save both indigenous and multinational industries in Ghana from collapse,” he said.

Mr. Gaisie was speaking at a media launch to officially open nominations for the second edition of the annual “Ghana Made Awards”, which is on the theme “Industrialisation, the key strategy to accelerated economic development and job-creation”.

The Ghana-Made awards are an initiative to expose Ghanaian indigenous products to the public and to honour outstanding companies in the country, in an effort to create awareness and promote Ghana-made products and services.

It is organised by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana in collaboration with the ministries of Trade and Industry and Finance, and endorsed by Ghana Standards Authority and the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

This year’s awards will be held in October, and will honour 30 local-based companies -- including multi-nationals -- for producing unique made-in-Ghana products and delivering efficient services.

Mr. Gaise added that local companies need the appropriate legislations and environment to operate and thrive, and expressed hope that the awards will motivate companies in Ghana to improve on their products and services.

He touched on new additions and changes to this year’s event, especially in the areas of voting and assessment criteria: “This year, 80 percent of the voting process year has been allocated to the public while the remaining 20 percent will be possessed by the judging panel.

“Also, assessment for the awards will take into consideration a lot of factors such as product content, and innovation as well as product-excellence, quality and its benefits. Others will be product value and packaging, sustainability and certification.”

Categories in this year’s awards include the Ghana Personality of the Year, Product of the Year, Innovative Product of the Year and the Indigenous Product of the Year.

The public are expected to make nominations for each of the 30 categories. Nominations will close on July 30.