Jospong Group, a conglomerate owned by Joseph Siaw Agyepong, one of Ghana’s most successful businessmen, has secured a $33-million facility from the Austrian government for the expansion of its rice production enterprise in the country.

Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo praised Austria for the gesture as he announced it in Accra on Wednesday, noting that Jospong Group has already established 16 integrated recycling and composting facilities through previous financial support from the Austrian government.

Akufo-Addo was speaking during a luncheon on Friday in honor of Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who is in Ghana for a three-day official visit.

Following the Ghanaian government’s resolve to enhance rice output in the country, Agyepong announced last year that his was venturing into large-scale mechanised rice cultivation.

Since then, the company has inked memorandums of understanding with key rice sector players in Thailand to construct a seed development and research center, rice mechanization centers, bio-organic fertiliser manufacturing centers, farm tool supply, and rice mills in Ghana.

Jospong Group, founded by Joseph Siaw Agyepong in 1995 as a printing press, has since snowballed intoone of Ghana’s largest indigenous conglomerates.

It has business interests in over 14 sectors spanning 60 subsidiaries with operations in Africa and Asia.

The group has its tentacles in waste management, ICT, Printing & Publishing, agriculture, finance and logistics.

In 2021, the Ghanaian government recognized Agyepong as the “CEO of the Decade” for his company’s activities in the environmental and sanitation sector.