E. K. Agyemang Mining Company Limited, a small scale mining company, has picked up the Gold Award during this year’s Ashanti Regional Business Excellence Awards ceremony, organised by TOP BRASS, under the auspices of Manhyia Palace.

E.K. Agyemang received the award for the company’s immense contribution to the development of small scale mining in the region, and for quality services it has been providing to residents of the areas in which it operates, and the region as a whole, in terms of infrastructural development.

Mr. E.K. Agyemang, Managing Director of the company, expressed his profound gratitude to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, and TOP BRASS for recognising the hard work and the positive impact the company had made towards the development of the people in its catchment area.

He gave the assurance that the company will not relent in its efforts at providing the basic needs of the people in the region, especially the rural communities, in the areas of education, potable water, and health to complement the government’s efforts at providing quality life for the citizenry.

He said the recognition came through the dedication, hard work and performance of the workers and management of the company, and will always ensure that pragmatic measures are put in place to save the environment.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, who was deputised by Oheneba Adusei Poku, Akyempimhene, commended E. K. Agyemang Mining Company for the hard work, and urged mining companies to endeavour to fashion out a conducive mining environment to improve the Ghanaian economy.

According to him, Ghana was a predominantly agricultural country, but regretted a recent survey conducted by the Institute of Economic Affairs concluded that of all the key economic sectors, agriculture was the least favoured by the banks when it comes to the provision of loans and credit to the business community.

Otumfuo commended the government for completing the transformation of the Export Development and Investment Fund into the Export Trade, Agricultural and Industrial Development Fund, and expressed the hope that it will enable the agricultural sector, as the mainstay of Ghanaian economy, to access credit.

He invited the managers of the fund to set up an office in Kumasi to facilitate the receipt and processing of credit applications from prospective applicants from the middle belt of the country.

He also drew the government’s attention to the predicament of the once-vibrant poultry industry in the country, which regrettably, is now on the verge of collapse.

Adding that with Kumasi generally recognised as the poultry capital of Ghana, it would be prudent to rejuvenate the industry to expand production to generate employment for the Ghanaian youth, and also save the country the colossal amount of foreign currency which is expended annually on the importation of poultry products from abroad.

According to him, it was reassuring that the government itself acknowledges the potential of the country becoming self-sufficient in poultry production, and called on it to redouble its efforts at creating a conducive environment in which the poultry industry can thrive.