Mr Mike Nyinaku, Chief Executive Officer of Beige Capital, has called on government to build the capacity of local enterprises to ensure that value is added to the nation’s natural resources to compete in the international level.

He said many foreign investors have taken over the production of the country’s natural resources because local businesses are handicapped in terms of financial muscle to purchase equipment to add value to its products.

The CEO of Beige Capital was of the view that there should be synergy among local companies to enhance their competitiveness, saying there should be a conscious effort from homes, schools, churches and mosque to drive all to start thinking big to meet emerging trends of global business.

Mr Nyinaku made the call at the 6th series of Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG) evening encounter in Accra as part of preparation for its awards night on September 10.

Speaking on the topic: “Projecting Ghana to the World,” Mr Nyinaku said: “We need to re-orient ourselves from the foundation of our beginning to influence our thinking ability to envisage prospects in the future and negate the idea of short-term investment and focus on long-term development”.

Mr Nyinaku urged local businesses to step up their efforts and do more to impress on the political authorities the need to develop and implement meaningful policies that would help the sector.

Government should begin to give opportunities to local enterprises to provide services that they are good at, he said, for instance offering an opportunity to Beige Capital to provide banking services to some state institutions could be an encouraging step.

He said there are lot of opportunities in the country and that there is the need to galvanize our efforts to think positively in building a viable economy for national development.

Mr Nyinako urged CIMG to be agent of change to promote corporate communications and drive the crusade to make the country ‘think above the box’.

Mr Kojo Mattah, President of CIMG, said the country was endowed with many great opportunities such as being a leader in the production of cocoa and possessed abundant deposits of gold, diamond and bauxite but lacked behind in utilizing these resources effectively.

Mr Mattah said it was worrying that the country’s natural resources including water bodies have been exploited and desecrated with impunity and all must come on board to re-strategize and chart the path to national development.

He said while nations like Malaysia, Singapore that has become self-governing at the same time went on to achieve lasting and monumental economic development; we have succeeded in reducing these opportunities to mere slogans.