Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited (TCCL) has been adjudged the Best Manufacturing Company in the Electrical and Electronics sector by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) in its maiden National Industrial Awards.

TCCL came up tops in that sector after a team of experts detailed by the AGI Award’s Committee conducted assessments of industrial manufacturers in the sector in various areas including their financial records, good corporate governance structures and production levels.

Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd started operations in 1998, having been incorporated the previous year, to manufacture overhead conductors and a wide range of insulated cables for both electrical and telecommunication use, locally and for export.

The company is ISO 9001-2000 standard certified and currently has capacity to produce about 6,000 tonnes of cables and conductors a year.

It supplies cables to Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Energy Ministry, mining companies, real estate developers, electrical contractors and the general public.

Commenting on the award, the Managing Director of Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, said: “For us, this is recognition of the fact that as a Ghanaian company, we are making impact in an area where not many manufacturing companies venture into. And coming from AGI, it’s even more encouraging.”

“This award should also serve as a spur for our efforts in the West African sub-region. We dedicate this to our workers. I also want to say ‘thank you’ to our distributors and customers who continue to keep faith with us,” he added.

Mr. Oteng-Gyasi and the management of TCCL believe that the company’s continued focus on uncompromising quality, which the company does not sacrifice for quicker sales, as its priority is to offer value for money to its clients and patrons.

According to him, “at TCCL, our primary focus is to give value for money and we’re always bent on not sacrificing quality for financial gains or anything since electricity is a fundamental part of modern living. Electricity is useful but can be dangerous. Therefore, we believe quality and the use of appropriate standards are paramount.”

TCCL has developed a robust documentation framework to cover all its processes from purchasing of raw materials, processing stages including production and stores, quality control, and human resource to marketing under the ISO standard.

Recently, Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd increased its production capacity to 6,000 tonnes per annum of various products but only about 60 per cent of this installed capacity is so far being utilised because of unbridled importation of cables which, although, cannot stand the quality of TCCL though.

For Mr. Oteng-Gyasi and his team, “Our general attitude as Ghanaians also needs to change for us to look at products made-in-Ghana. We need to have more faith in ourselves and ability to do things and this will greatly enhance the local manufacturing sector.”

TCCL is part of the local cable manufacturing team of three that is implementing a credit line of GH¢80 million which the local companies arranged to meet government supplies. The company believes that the initiative is only a small step that should be enhanced and replicated across sectors by whichever president comes into power next year.

The company exports its products to several countries in the sub-region such as Nigeria, Liberia, Togo, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.

A member of the Ghana Club 100, TCCL has won several awards including the CIMG Manufacturing Company of the Year Award, the National Quality Awards, and the Ghana Standards Board Award for Quality.

TCCL is joining hands with other industry players in discussing collaborations with some expatriate companies for the manufacture of ‘unbilical cables’ for the oil industry. An unbilical cable is an assemblage of various cables and pipes together that oil companies use to serve the wells.

Since the oil and gas sector is a catalyst for development, TCCL plans to open its own distribution depot at Takoradi by the close of the first quarter of next year to serve the downstream market and real estate property such as warehouses, residential and commercials buildings.