‘Don’t Go Small, Go Big’ – GICC President Challenges Ghanaian Businesses to Seize Indian Opportunities

<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd"><strong>Accra&comma; Oct&period; 5&comma; 2026<&sol;strong> – President of the Ghana-India Chamber of Commerce &lpar;GICC&rpar;&comma; Dr&period; Kwabena Ekremet&comma; has challenged Ghanaian businesses to think bigger and take full advantage of the growing opportunities for trade and investment with India&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">Addressing Ghanaian businesses and members of a 15-member Indian business delegation at a business-to-business &lpar;B2B&rpar; engagement in Accra&comma; Dr&period; Ekremet urged local enterprises to approach the engagement with ambition and negotiate partnerships capable of significantly expanding their businesses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I’m asking that those who are here today should do well&comma; should engage with the Indians&comma; and should negotiate well and make sure that you’re asking for more&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If you came here to order a container of goods&comma; make it ten containers&period; The Indians are ready to support&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">His message was summed up in a direct appeal to Ghanaian businesses&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Don’t go small&period; Go big&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The GICC President also encouraged businesses that are not yet members of the Chamber to consider registering in order to position themselves for better opportunities in the future&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The remarks were made at the Royale Fiesta Hotel on October 5&comma; 2026&comma; during an engagement designed to connect Ghanaian businesses with Indian companies and explore opportunities for trade&comma; investment&comma; and commercial partnerships&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Indian delegation explores Ghanaian market<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The 15-member Indian delegation&comma; which arrived in Ghana on October 5&comma; comprises companies operating in sectors of mutual interest to Ghana and India&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The engagement&comma; held under the theme &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Restore&comma; Connect&comma; Grow&comma;” is expected to facilitate discussions between Indian companies and Ghanaian buyers&comma; distributors&comma; manufacturers&comma; and investors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">India’s High Commissioner to Ghana&comma; H&period;E&period; Surinder Bhagat&comma; welcomed the delegation and described the engagement as an important opportunity to deepen the longstanding relationship between the two countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">He said India and Ghana had developed strong relations spanning education&comma; healthcare&comma; capacity building&comma; development cooperation&comma; and trade&comma; with more than 1&comma;000 Indian companies currently present in Ghana&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The High Commissioner said the two countries possessed complementary economic strengths that could be leveraged to promote investment&comma; technology transfer&comma; manufacturing&comma; and inclusive growth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">He identified healthcare and pharmaceuticals&comma; medical devices and hospital supplies&comma; agribusiness and agro-processing&comma; textiles and fashion&comma; engineering and hardware&comma; paper and packaging&comma; chemicals&comma; plastics&comma; fishing products&comma; and general trade as areas with significant potential&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">According to him&comma; the B2B engagement should go beyond networking to create lasting partnerships&comma; establish supply chains&comma; facilitate technology transfer&comma; and develop joint ventures that create value for both countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>GIPC highlights &dollar;6&period;5bn trade<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority &lpar;GIPC&rpar;&comma; Mr&period; Simon Madjie&comma; said the economic relationship between Ghana and India had significant room for further expansion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">He disclosed that trade between the two countries increased from approximately &dollar;3 billion in 2024 to about &dollar;6&period;5 billion in 2025&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">Ghana’s exports to India increased from approximately &dollar;1&period;7 billion to &dollar;5&period;2 billion during the period&comma; with gold accounting for about 85 percent of Ghana’s exports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">Other Ghanaian exports to India include petroleum oils&comma; cashew nuts&comma; oil seeds&comma; and wood products&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">India&comma; meanwhile&comma; exports machinery and mechanical appliances&comma; vehicles&comma; pharmaceutical products&comma; plastics&comma; iron and steel products&comma; and chemicals to Ghana&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">Mr&period; Madjie also disclosed that GIPC records showed more than 1&comma;000 registered Indian investment projects in Ghana between 1994 and 2026&comma; representing an estimated foreign investment value of approximately &dollar;12&period;07 billion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>Call for stronger Ghana-India business partnerships<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The GIPC CEO said the next phase of Ghana-India economic relations should focus on greater investment in productive capacity&comma; increased value-added production and exports&comma; as well as deeper technology transfer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">He identified opportunities for Indian businesses in Ghana’s agriculture&comma; agro-processing&comma; healthcare&comma; manufacturing&comma; pharmaceuticals&comma; textiles&comma; logistics&comma; digital economy&comma; and financial services sectors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">Ghana’s position as host of the African Continental Free Trade Area &lpar;AfCFTA&rpar; Secretariat&comma; he said&comma; also provided Indian investors with an opportunity to use the country as a base to access the wider African market&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">He assured the delegation that GIPC was ready to support investors in identifying opportunities&comma; establishing businesses&comma; navigating regulatory processes&comma; and expanding their operations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4>From &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;one container” to bigger partnerships<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">The GICC President’s challenge comes at a time when Ghana and India are seeking to translate their longstanding diplomatic relationship into stronger commercial and investment partnerships&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">For Dr&period; Ekremet&comma; however&comma; the immediate task is for Ghanaian businesses to recognise the opportunities available and be prepared to scale up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"isSelectedEnd">His appeal to entrepreneurs to turn a single container order into ten encapsulated the broader message of the engagement&colon; that Ghanaian businesses must move beyond small-scale transactions and pursue larger&comma; sustainable commercial relationships with Indian partners&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the Indian delegation engaging Ghanaian buyers&comma; distributors&comma; manufacturers&comma; and investors across multiple sectors&comma; stakeholders expressed optimism that the meetings could lead to new business deals&comma; investment partnerships&comma; technology transfers&comma; and expanded market opportunities for enterprises in both countries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-3431" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;humanrightsreporters&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2026&sol;10&sol;IMG&lowbar;0174-300x223&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"839" height&equals;"624" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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