Job creation is government’s priority – Mahama Ayariga
Mr Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Information and Media Relations, has commended the Finatrade Group of Companies for instituting a scholarship for brilliant but needy agricultural students in five public universities.
He said: “Job creation in the country is the primary aim of government and am delighted to announce that government is committed to partnering the private sector like Finatrade Group to provide jobs for our teeming youth from the tertiary institutions.”
Mr Ayariga gave this commendation when he addressed staff and clients of the Finatrade Group of Companies during their annual get-together in Accra.
Finatrade Foundation, a subsidiary of the Finatrade Group of Companies, has over the years awarded scholarships to brilliant but needy Agricultural Science students of the University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, University For Development Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University for Education, Winneba.
The Minister said Ghana had adequate arable land and would therefore collaborate effectively with the private sector to harness those potentials through adequate funding and appropriate technology to transform agriculture to make the country self-sufficient and a net exporter of food to other countries.
My Ayariga also commended the company and many others in the private sector for establishing manufacturing industries in the country, adding that such a move would pave the way for economic growth and effective job creation.
Mr Nabil Moukarzel, Chairman of the Finatrade Group of Companies, said the company, which started 18 years ago with only 10 employees, now boasts of 2,000 direct employees with more than twice that figure as indirect employees.
He said although the company had been engaged in distribution, manufacturing and services, emphasis from this year would be on local production which would create more job opportunities for Ghanaians.
“Finatrade’s strategy for 2013 is to focus more on local production and distribution and less importation thus ensuring that quality products are more affordable,” Mr Moukarzel said.
He explained that the company’s rice brand, “Pride Rice,” and Pasta were locally produced under the Rice Master and Dry Foods Processing subsidiaries, and an agreement signed with a large South African company for local production and distribution of beverages would eliminate importation of those products in subsequent years.
Mr Moukarzel congratulated the National Team, the Black Stars, for their performance so far in the African Cup of Nations and said; “our brand ‘ricemaster’ is the official meal sponsor of the Black Stars.”
Source: GNA