Head, Special Initiative for Training and Job Creation. Gerald Guskowski
The Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK), in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), is working with partner German businesses to among other things, create jobs in Ghana, by improving export opportunities, removing investment barriers, ensuring a skilled workforce as well as fostering sustainable investment.
The two organisations held a dialogue at the La Villa Boutique Hotel in Accra, bringing together, for the first time, stakeholders to discuss successes chalked so far by German businesses in Ghana, and find ways to create jobs and provide transferable skills for the youth.
This falls under the Delegation’s “Biz4Jobs” programme, through the “Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation” in Ghana, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The dialogue was to promote the Biz4Jobs programme to German firms and encourage them to tap from available around-the-clock assistance from the Delegation to grow their businesses while at the same time, creating jobs for Ghanaians; a win-win situation. The Delegation provides consulting, industry research, as well as access to training opportunities for companies that participate in the project.
With over 13 MoU’s signed with companies under this programme, six of them that were present, paid glowing tributes to their collaboration with the Delegation and expressed deep satisfaction with the progress made so far.
Country Manager for Inzag GmbH, Fernando Mariano, praised the delegation for assisting his outfit with the recruitment and training of 300 workers for their yet-to-start road construction project. Another German company, Knauf Ghana, was particularly emphatic about soft skill development for which they have started a boot camp for artisans after and small-scale business owners, having discovered room for improvement in marketing and sales among them.
“We find that our installers, for 80% of the projects, decide what to buy. Your Mason will decide what type of cement to buy. Your ceiling installer will decide what brand, what product and what design to put in your building. So, they’re important for us. We’re training them to improve their technical skills. We offer soft-skill development for our installers with the support of the Delegation and GIZ, and under this programme, we think that everyone we train is taking their business to the next level. The Delegation has been very helpful.” observed the Commercial and Marketing Manager for Knauf, Ghana, Hans Kisseih.
Also under the Biz4Jobs project, Med-Scientific and B.Braun Medical Ghana are collaborating to deliver mobile solutions to remote areas where there is little access to healthcare services.
The Managing Director of B. Braun Medical Ghana Ltd, Petty Nmo, noted that “Med-Scientific had a brilliant idea to work on mobile clinics where people do not have access to healthcare facilities. So, let’s say Med Scientific wants to fill that [healthcare] gap.”
Speaking on behalf of the German government, Deputy German Ambassador, Hans-Helge Sander, said the “initiative is genuinely concerned with the success and service of businesses, as well as having a significant impact on job opportunities in Ghana, and I would encourage businesses that are not currently participating to do so.”
The event was organized in collaboration with GIZ under the Special Initiative on Training and Jobs Creation. Head of the Programme, Gerald Guskowski, emphasised that innovative cooperation with the private sector often guarantees sustainability as he praised the “excellent cooperation between GIZ and the Delegation of the German Industry in Commerce in Ghana, in supporting German businesses in Ghana,” which he added, goes a long way to support skills development and creation of new job opportunities for youth and women across the country.”
Head of Business and Invest – the arm of Invest for Jobs (the brand name for Special Initiative for Training and Job Creation), which focuses on supporting European businesses in Ghana, Anne-Marie Castel-Langfeld, further explained that the “Invest for Jobs project forms part of the G20 Compact with Africa investment partnership, seeking to promote sustainable investment that has a high impact on employment in the partner countries of the German cooperation, Ghana included.”
“It means there are no activities being implemented in this project without having the private sector partner at our side. So, companies are invited to join the partnership with GIZ-AHK,” Mrs Castel-Langefeld reiterated.
Biz4Jobs is still ongoing and European businesses operating in Ghana are encouraged to sign up and make use of the available assistance by visiting AHK Biz4Jobs: https://www.ghana.ahk.de/competence-centres/private-sector-development-projects/ahk-biz4jobs; and Invest for Jobs in Ghana: https://invest-for-jobs.com/en/country/ghana.
