The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Michael Okyere Baafi, has said the organisation has plans of creating local magnates in the country to enable them to compete with their foreign counterparts.

According to him, if Ghana will be able to build a stronger economy, then there is the need to build the financial muscles of local entrepreneurs to enable them to create more businesses.

The Free Zones programme in Ghana offers you a conducive business environment to produce at minimum cost for export.

Speaking on the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra 100.5FM on Wednesday, August 30, Mr Baafi said: “I believe that we should not always look for foreigners to come and take control of foreign businesses in Ghana. When foreigners come to open businesses in Ghana, we should be able to have local people whose capacity would have been built, their financial muscles have become big so they can take over big businesses; that is the kind of arrangement want to build.

“We want to produce local billionaires – people who have the capacity to acquire big investments. It appears Ghanaians don’t have the capacity to engage in big businesses. When we are building a nation we should be able to have people who have the financial muscles to take up big ventures, and that is what Nigeria is doing and that is why they are doing so well with their economy.

“Most of the private people there have fat muscles and that is what we want to produce in Ghana. We want the local investors to benefit from the Free Zones and grow their businesses.”