The overwhelming success of the Year of Return initiative revealed that the diaspora community have a desire and interest in investing in Ghana.
This led to the creation of a Diaspora Investment Desk (DID), at the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) under the auspices of the President. Engaging the diaspora community is important because research shows that the diaspora bring in considerable amount of remittances estimated at over $3 billion dollars as at 2019.
It is on the back of this that the GIPC with the support of the Beyond the Return Secretariat is organizing the first edition of the Diaspora Business Breakfast Meeting, aimed at harnessing the network of opportunities within the diaspora.
A press release issued by the GIPC states that the meeting is scheduled for the 17th of November 2020 (7:30am – 11:30am), the meeting is expected to be a convergence of diasporas with skills, technical know-how and capital, who are ready and willing to invest in the Ghanaian economy to support the Government of Ghana’s Ghana Beyond Aid agenda and also re-integrate members of the diaspora into the Ghanaian economy.
Key among the topics to be discussed will include opportunities for Diaspora Direct Investment, government policies that will impact positively the doing of business in Ghana as well as how Diaspora Direct Investment will add to development of a contemporary and knowledge-based economy.
The meeting will be graced by the presence of the Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Mr. Yofi Grant as well as other stakeholders from the Diaspora Affairs Office of the President, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration among others. The event will also be streamed live on selected GIPC social media platforms on @ghanagipc, @gipcghana, @gipc, on myjoyonline.com and all the social media platforms of Multimedia (JoyBusiness) who are the Media Partners for the event.
Commenting on the upcoming event, the CEO of GIPC was positive that an engagement with the diaspora is a worthwhile course. He said “the diaspora community have expressed interest in either living or establishing businesses in Ghana. It is therefore our expectation to convert these opportunities to viable economic activity”. Together, let’s “grow in Ghana and grow with Ghana.”
