The death was reported at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra on Friday of Mrs Esther Afua Ocloo, a pioneer female industrialist in Ghana.

Mrs Ocloo, who was born in April 1919 at Peki-Dzake in the Volta Region, had been on admission at the Hospital.

Mrs Ocloo, an active participant at forums on industry in Ghana, started the first food-processing factory in Ghana under the name Nkulenu Industries Limited in 1942 with six shillings.

She attended Achimota School from 1936 to 1941 and took several Diploma courses, including large-scale cookery and food preservation in the UK.

Her long list of credentials includes a Grand Medal by the government in 1969 and an honorary doctorate degree by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

She was the founder and first president of the Federation of Ghana Industries, now Association of Ghanaian Industries and founding member and first chairman of the Board of Directors of Women's World Banking.

She was the first woman to be appointed executive chairman of the National Food and Nutrition Board of Ghana (1964-66), a member of the Synod Committee of the E.P. Church, Ghana (1974-88), Adviser to the Council on Women and Development on small scale and cottage industries (1976-1986).

Mrs Ocloo was also a consultant to UNIDO (1976), a member of the Task Force for Economic Commission for Africa (1976) and Director of the Ecumenical Development Cooperative Societies (1977-82).