The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), has commissioned a multi-faceted workshop facility to house bauxite bead producers in Abompe in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern Region.
The new facility, valued at GHS 500,000, is expected to significantly boost the production processes of bead-making.
It comprises a production floor space, warehouse and washroom facilities with 7 moulding machines manufactured and installed by Ghanaian company, McHammah Engineering.
Handing over the facility to the community, the CEO of GEPA, Afua Asabea Asare, said members of the Abompe Bauxite Beads Producers Association, the main beneficiaries of the facility, have been taken through training on the use of the machines to enable them maximize their output.
She indicated that the construction of the new workshop is in line with GEPA’s mandate of developing, facilitating and promoting Ghana’s non-traditional exports to sustain production and supply.
She said the Abompe facility aligns with President Akufo-Addo’s industrialization agenda and the 1 District 1 Factory (1D1F) Initiative, adding that the facility will encourage more people within the community to engage in commercial production of handicrafts as a means of earning an income and improving their lives.
President of the Abompe Beadmakers Association, Nana Kofi Buabeng, lauded GEPA for the initiative, describing it as a major boost for handicrafts makers in the community who hitherto relied on inefficient, painstaking rudimentary processes.
He pledged to ensure that the facility is well-maintained and resourced to benefit more people in Abompe and nearby communities.
In 2018, Ghana recorded an increase of 10.05% in total earnings of Non-Traditional Exports with the handicraft sector accounting for USD12.8million which represents 0.46%
