‘Partnerships important for wealth creation’
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Trade Alex Gomani says partnerships are very important for any country to create wealth because when resources are pulled together, wealth creation becomes sustainable.
Speaking when he opened the Trade and Investment Conference organised by The Global Business Roundtable (GBR) at Sogecoa Golden Peacock on Monday, Gomani said individuals and organisations can gain more when they embrace partnerships.
Said Gomani: “It is important to embrace partnerships rather than working as individuals and there is more to gain in terms of resource mobilisation, intellectual and skills development as well as mentorships among others. The private sector must be urged to come up with various kinds of initiative with the deliberate objective of pooling their resources together in order to build their business and investments capacities.”
He said Africa has not developed much because the continent produces similar products and there was need for investments that will add value to crop resources rather than exporting them in their primary form.
On the impact of the GBR, Gomani said the concept was a success in South Africa and has since been replicated in other 19 African countries as well as the United States of America and Spain.
“The GBR concept has enhanced productive investments that have significant bearing on the respective economies in which they are located and this is exactly what Africa needs. If Africa can enhance trade within the continent then jobs will be kept within the continent,” said Gomani.
In her presentation, Eugenia Ameyaw of GBR said African countries must trade with each other because most of the countries have the capacity to withstand economic shocks happening outside Africa.
“During the time when other countries outside Africa were facing economic turbulence, about 54 countries registered a GDP of about six percent. This happened because there are more minerals in most African countries and if the minerals can be value-added within the continent, Africa will easily move forward,” said Ameyaw
She said the continent has a lot of untapped business potential and entrepreneurs must be encouraged to take advantage of the same.
