Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has called on government to invest in Research and Development (R&D) and make it a priority in the national scheme of resource allocation. He explained that investment in R&D is imperative for economic growth and national development, and that government should not leave this to private initiatives or external funding interests-- since the interests of those external donors might not necessarily

Pig farming in the Bunkprugu-Yunyoo District in the Northern Region is in dire straits due to the absence of veterinary service, which has led to high-mortality rate in piggeries across the district, Mrs. Lydia Baba, Chairperson, Somirinan Young Farmers League Cooperative Society Ltd. (SYFSL), has said. According to her, the situation has denied the farmers access to modern methods of production, and therefore they are not able to maximise production. Speaking in an interview with B&FT, Mrs.

Jan Koum, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Whatsapp, the social messaging service recently acquired by Facebook for US$19billion, has commended the country for its innovative approach to using its mobile application. Mr. Koum, making his first public appearance at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona after the acquisition by Facebook, was narrating WhatsApp’s journey since being founded five years ago. Citing how useful the application has been to the over-450 million subscribers around

British Airways has been named the winning Consumer Superbrand of 2014, securing the top position against 1,500 other brands vying for the prestigious title. It’s the first time an airline or travel brand of any kind has topped the poll. The UK’s Consumer Superbrands are chosen by the British public in a national survey of 3,000 adults. The annual survey, which has been identifying the UK’s leading brands since 1995, was managed by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA). Frank van der Post,

The Ghana Chamber of Mines is advocating a policy to increase royalties returned by government to mining communities from nine percent to 30 percent. The Chamber indicated that the increment should be tied to specific projects over a period of time. Dr. Toni Aubynn, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, disclosed this during an interaction with journalists in the Western Region at the Regional Press centre in Takoradi. “Despite the declining gold price on the world market,

Turkish kitchenware manufacturers have indicated their intentions to sell about US$20million worth of kitchenware products to the Ghanaian market as Turkey looks to increase its trade investment inflows to the country. Turkey’s kitchenware exports to Ghana reached just a little above US$1million last year, and the companies in the country are hoping to increase that by 20-fold within the next five years through partnership deals with Ghanaian enterprises. The Chairman of the Istanbul Chemicals

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Samba Foods Limited, Mrs. Leticia Osarfo-Addo, has said the SME sector, particularly those in the agri-business, holds the potential to lead the country’s developmental agenda should government institute steps to add value to agriculture raw materials produced in the country. She said SMEs in the country are confronted with a barrage of challenges, notable among which has often been cited to be the lack of financing. She pointed out that beyond this problem

The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) has inaugurated its investment entity known as the Golden Pride Savings and Loans (GPSL) Limited at Tarkwa in the Western Region. The GPSL is to meet the financial aspirations of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially in the peri-urban centres, to support, expand and sustain their business. Also, GPSL aims at improving the local economy -- particularly the mining communities as well as the district and country at large. Mr. Johnson Boadi Asamoah, Managing

The resuscitation of the Kumasi Shoe Factory, which was originally established in 1960 by the CPP under the leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is a commendable feat that will ensure jobs are provided while the country’s industrial base is strengthened. The shoe factory produced boots for personnel of the security services and the general public. The company however collapsed after the overthrow of his regime and it was not until this current regime that the Czech Republic revived it through its Knights

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum intends to distribute for free 50,000 cylinders and cook stoves to the country’s ten districts. The distribution forms part of the Rural Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Promotion programme that is targetting rural areas with low access to LPG. The programme, which started last year, has so far distributed 1,500 pieces of cylinders and cook stoves to selected districts as a pilot project. To facilitate the programme and ensure that beneficiary districts have constant

The Sekondi-Takoradi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (STCCI) is to organise a “Ghana Extractive Industry Safety Conference (GEISC 2014)” in October this year in Takoradi. The conference has the central objective of identifying new trends, standards, innovations, risks and opportunities in health and safety in the extractive industry. It will be on the theme “Driving industrial excellence through health and safety” -- an assessment of health and safety issues and their impact on emerging

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) is currently developing a scheme to attract investment in clear-cut areas of the economy and position the country to leverage its comparative advantage within the West African sub-region, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, Deputy Minister, has disclosed. “We must be able as a country to leverage our comparative advantage within the West African sub-region to draw investors in certain clear-cut areas of the economy. For instance, Ghana has a huge potential to manufacture

Chief Executive of IBM, Virginia Rometty, says the American Multinational technology and consulting corporation sees Africa as a huge growth opportunity over the next decade. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress, Ms Rometty said what sets Africa apart from other markets is its infrastructure, which was built with mobile in mind. Payments and communications are already built on top of a booming phone market; and incomes continue to rise, driving demand for better gadgets and services, she added. The

Chief Executive of IBM, Virginia Rometty, says the American Multinational technology and consulting corporation sees Africa as a huge growth opportunity over the next decade. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress, Ms Rometty said what sets Africa apart from other markets is its infrastructure, which was built with mobile in mind. Payments and communications are already built on top of a booming phone market; and incomes continue to rise, driving demand for better gadgets and services, she added. The

Donors have withheld direct budgetary support worth US$700million in the past two years in response to government’s large spending over-runs and the inability of some ministries to meet conditions for disbursement. The situation has increased pressure on the government’s domestic revenues, which have to be supplemented by more borrowing to plug the hole created in the budget by suspension of the grants, said Minister of Finance Seth Terkper. According to Finance Ministry data issued last week,

Government will construct a new terminal at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to take pressure off Terminal 2 of the facility The KIA currently has two terminals. Terminal 1 is used by domestic operators and some regional carriers, while T2 is mainly used for international arrivals and departures. However, increasing passenger throughput has put pressure on the facilities at the KIA. President John Mahama, in his State of the Nation Address said: “Adverts will soon be placed for the construction