The Ghanaians Conference in Torino

When Ghanaians in Italy come together for a national cause they are like a united family and the bond of friendship and patriotism resonates irrespective of their differences.

The amazing thing you find in there is most of them don’t know one another back home in Ghana, yet they behave as such, they have their ethnic background, levels of education,their religious differences and do not share the same political stand but that does not seem to count as their deep sense of patriotism penetrates beyond these borders.

And so it was at the recent Ghana Nationals Conference in the Italian industrial city Torino. I know Ghanaians in Italy honours such an occassion but the attendance at this meeting exceeded my expectation as they filled the 350-seater auditorium, some travelling long distances from other cities, responding to the call of their leaders and be part of a national cause.

It is the first meeting of its kind within the African community and even that I’m not aware of such an event within the entire immigrants’ community in Italy.

The purpose was to sell the idea of investing in Ghana and to deliberate on issues affecting the Ghanaian community in Italy. The entire time was however focused only on investing in Ghana’s economy but it was worth every minute at this Conference.

The 5-man Ghanaian delegation to this meeting, led by Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, made an impact for such an event worth organising. The Hon. Minister was more than convincing with his presentation raising issues that will entice Ghanaians abroad and other foreign investors to think of the good prospects and opportunities that currently avails in Ghana under investments.

But the man who impressed me most was the Chief Executive of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Robert A. Lindsay. How I wish to see people of his calibre run establishments and companies in Ghana. He knows his job, the A to Z about investing in Ghana and it appears he does not torelate any acts of bureaucracy and corruption under his office. He delivered a comprehensive analysis and presentation about investing in Ghana that sent the right signals, also to Italian entrepreneurs at the meeting, seeing Ghana as a place for investment in Africa. And when it came to questions he has the right and convincing answers.

Torino is a knowned great city, actually the first capital city of Italy, and housing over 200,000 business enterprises and companies there couldn’t have been a better place in Italy to hold such a Conference.

The delegation in the course of their stay in the city were driven through some of the outskirts of the city showing farming areas and had some fresh ideas about how Italians carry out mechanise farming. They also visited places of interest, among them, the great Hall of ‘Sala Rossa’, which was Italy’s First Parliament Hall situated in the heart of the city within the City Council’s building.

The unique nature of the place, how it has been kept spotlessly clean and preserved all these years is a great tourists attraction and a message for them to take back home as most of Ghana’s historical sites have been left unattended with its records and books gathering dust. Italians have a very rich culture and history and they have continuously conserved it for centuries which is has been a big source of revenue of which Ghana can learn a lot from that.

The delegation also later met Dr. Michelle Dell’Utri, one of the top officials of the City Council responsible for Promotion, Cooperation and International Relations of the city, Torino, who was also at the meeting. It has been marked out that before the year ends a team of Italian investors from Torino will pay a visit to Ghana to look for areas they can invest and Ghanaians in Italy are also being encouraged to form partnership with Italians to come and invest in Ghana.

Under the Conference I’m glad issues such as consistent electrical power supply in Ghana, bureaucratic tendencies which can drag setting up investments, land for investment, security, possibility of loan facilities and a possible change of government were all raised by both Ghanaians and Italians at the two-day meeting. These are some of the areas that can turn off many investors if not properly addressed and it’s good the Ghana government, according to the Hon. Minister, is making sure none of these will be a hindrance to the investor coming to Ghana.

Italians are serious with business, for that matter work, anyone who has worked with them can attest that they cannot stand any form of power cut, even for a short period. They begin to count the cost in terms of loss of revenue in the face of these lapses, they want to work and make more profits every time and it’s as simple as that.

The whole Conference was a success ….. a big one of course. I applaud the Ghana Nationals Association in Italy (COGNAI) for coming out with such an innovative idea and their sponsors which included the Torino City Council and Ghana Cooperative (Ghanacoop) in Modena helped a lot towards a meaningful objective. The Ghana Association in Torino (GAITO) deserves a pat on the back too for excellently hosting and giving refreshments to that number of Ghanaians to the city and its Executives, among them, Padmore Opoku Ahinkorah, Abdul Iddi Rahmah, Freeman William Adzikah, Emmanuel Azaletey and tireless Helen Abdul Rahman all need to be commended for a good job. Also Giovanni Ferraris of the City Council in Torino, the man who I describe as a half-Ghanaian. I saw him wearing a Ghanaian material top at a get-together dance organised after the Conference and he came with his family. He has been so instrumental in all the Ghanaians activities in Torino and for a couple of days the Hon. Minister was in Torino he saw it and rightly paid him some compliments at the Conference.

Ghanaians in Italy have once again proved a point making people sit up and take a different view about them, they are opening up doors for Ghana’s development and this National Conference to attract investments is what Ghana needs in the government’s plans of putting all efforts together towards development of the nation.