Ghanaian manufacturers have been challenged to rise above other African countries in making their products and services internationally acceptable. Opening the five-day International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO 9000) workshop in Accra on Monday, the ISO chairman Nelson Yaw Nyarko said Ghanaian companies would do better on the global market if they were certified to the ISO 9000 series.

The workshop, organised by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), is being attended by ten representatives from manufacturing industries and scientific institutions.

Nyarko said the international market is gradually demanding ISO 9000 certification as a prerequisite for doing business with companies. "It is therefore in the interest of companies in Ghana to start thinking seriously about ISO 9000 certification," he said.

ISO certification started in 1993 and has been growing steadily. ISO issued nearly 350,000 certificates in 1999, an increase of 26 per cent over 1998, Nyarko said.

Kwasi Nkansa, Director of GSB, said current trends in international trade make it imperative for buyers or customers to demand from suppliers’ evidence that goods and services bought are of acceptable and consistent quality.

He said the knowledge and implementation of ISO 9000 quality management systems will make companies more competitive both in the local and external markets.

Participants will be taken through topics such as the introduction to quality management systems, quality system documentation and steps for the implementation of quality management systems.