The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has launched its third awards to celebrate key businesses and personalities who contributed meaningfully to business practice in the country in 2018.

The third awards will be on the theme: “Digitising the Ghanaian Economy for Competitive edge in Globalisation, in support of government aggressive agenda of formalising the economy through digitisation in becoming an upper middle-income country.

Nomination for the awards commenced right after the launch on Tuesday,
May 21 and will close on June 21, this year with the awards ceremony slated for November 23, this year in Accra to be honoured by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Speaking at the launch, Nana Dr Appiagyei Dankawoso I, the President of the GNCCI, said the third edition of the awards scheme sought to celebrate the best and finest of businesses that have demonstrated excellence in business leadership and invested in smart management systems, business automation and design as well as product development in contributing to the socio-economic development.

He said as the private sector was being encouraged to leverage on technology and digitisation of systems to improve administrative operations and governance, there was the need to recognise businesses using innovative ways to remain efficient and competitive.

Nana Dankawoso said with the commencement of the African Continental
Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement on May 30, this year, and Ghana’s preparedness to host its secretariat, the private sector needed to be well positioned to take full advantage of the agreement of other trade agreements.

He said this year’s awards was designed to encourage the business community to stay innovative and digitise their services and operations to reflect modern trends in global market and urged all businesses to participate in the awards scheme.

Mr Patrick Nimo, the Acting Chief Director at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said the country was on the right path towards a digital wave, on account of the convergence of bold political leadership, strategic policy measures, technological advancement and private sector investment in innovation.

He said there wss doubt about the timelines of the theme especially in the light of massive opportunities emanating from the coming into force of the AfCFTA, which is a 1.2 billion market of African people.

He said everything being pursued by the Ministry to support the private sector was geared towards ensuring reaping the benefits of accesses to domestic, continental and global markets to create jobs and prosperity.

Mrs Josephine Okutu, the Chairperson for the GNCCI Awards Planning
Committee said the awards scheme was aimed at promoting high professional standards and to highlight the vital role of the Chamber in championing advocacy and networking.

She said the second edition of the Chamber’s awards for 2017 rewarded
38 businesses and personalities under the categories of Business, Personality, Regional and Chamber Special Awards with the inclusion of awards for media houses.

Mr Mark Badu-Aboagye, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GNCCI said criteria for the award would be in the areas of thought leadership engagements, innovation and technology, employment creation and people engagement, corporate social responsibilities, and customer relationship management among others.

He assured all prospective participants of the competencies of the team made up of experts from government, private sectors and professional bodies such as that Ghana Revenue Authority, the Food and Drugs Authority, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana among others.

He said businesses willing to participate could apply on the Chamber’s website, adding that firms could nominate themselves or be referred by another.

He said there would four sponsorship categories that included; Platinum,
Gold, Silver and Bronze with opportunities to be displayed on
Memento /plaques, brochure, and advert among others.