By Maxwell Awumah/Samuel Akumatey
Ho, Nov. 23, GNA – Some local industries in the Volta Region are counting fabulous gains from participating in the 5th Volta Trade and Investment Fair.
The Fair, which was held ending 2021, drew an accumulated attendance of more than 10,000 to some 200 exhibitors, becoming the largest trade event in the Region and the highest marketing platform accessible to most local and foreign entities.
The Region’s entrepreneurs never lost hope in the offerings and are beginning to reap the dividends of sacrifice as the Fair cleared its fifth edition.
Resilient industries such as coffeemaker, Ziavitutui, less than two years after the Fair, has crossed the lines on international markets and secured investors for expanding its operations.
The company is a community owned initiative of the valley settlement of Ziavi, one of the top coffee growing areas in the Volta Region and had established a sustainable channel for coffee consumption locally and for exports following the trade event.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Benjamin Kofi Horlali Atidjah, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) of some speed advancements that begun right after the 2021 Fair.
Mr Atidjah, said the Company has presently gained access to a grant through the Ghana Skills Development Fund to procure a manufacturing machine for the industrial processing of the product, otherwise undertaken in Accra, which was a dream of the native startup, made real by the Fair initiative.
Kawa Moka Coffee, also an indigenous brand sourcing from Volta but processed in Accra, adds to Ziavitutui to become the two main coffee processing companies in the Region.
Emi-Beth Amable, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kawa Moka, a premium quality fine robusta (variety of coffee) coffee producing and packaging company, is also basking in the 2021 dividend.
She told the GNA her inability to participate in the 2023 Fair stemmed from “her hands being too full in terms of orders to fulfill, both locally and internationally,” as that might mean over-loading the barrel.
She disclosed the Fair platform offers positive avenue for doing business, investment, networking, and expansion of opportunities.
Waste material from the production process is also utilized in the production of a sought-after Kawa Moka skin care line, which includes handmade cappuccino soap, coffee detox scrub, coffee infused body oil and coffee body butter.
Another company that struck gold at the Fair is Volta Winery, started by Dr Harrison Adzimah a lecturer at the Ho Technical University, and which charmed visitors with and exquisite blend and packaging. Cocoa fruit juice, raw chocolate nuts, cashew wine, cocoa wine, coffee wine.
“Local orders especially from the hospitality community continue to rise, we are frightened, while exports to African countries have registered partnerships in Togo and Kenya, all brokered at the previous Fair.
There is a constant supply also to some High Commissions in the country, who supported the trade event.
Dr Adzimah told the GNA business had grown beyond expectation and was presently being forced to sacrifice more and more for what he always considered a demonstration project.
“We learn a lot from fairs, and we see a lot – packaging, business modules etc, and we are able to cooperate.”
He encouraged organisers to sustain the initiative and said it should be positioned so small businesses could afford the platforms, adding that it turned out to mostly benefit businesses that could afford.
Speaking on his expectations for the upcoming fair, he said a “more interactive” support system for businesses should emanate.
D Adzimah stressed the need for a courier service for businesses in the Region and said was an area the AGI and stakeholders should consider in supporting local business growth.
A popular producer of Kente – local cloth identified worldwide as an African identity, the community of Agortime Kpetoe in the Volta Region received its share of business growth from exhibiting at the fair.
Discussions are ongoing to make fabric more visible locally and export elegant cloths to other countries.
Investors focus on Volta has risen, and several ambitious agro-investments could be seen springing up in fertile enclaves, while manufacturing and other production outlets multiply.
Various business and investment fora help provide the Region with necessary support and interventions from key stakeholders including the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority, and Ghana Export Promotion Authority.
A report by the Fair organisers sighted by the GNA said there are plans to hold a Ghana/Togo business forum to promote cross border trade between the close neighbours.
Organisers, in the report noted how the Fair helped promote interest in the Volta Region as a business destination of all sorts and said its prospect as a key tourism and also conference destination for the country, was amplified.
The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), lead partner of the Fair, has won the franchise of right over the organisation of the 6th event, which is on the theme: “Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area for Local Economic Development.”
It would be held from November 26 to December 10 at the Ho Jubilee Park, and many are anticipating a record-breaking event.
Publicity has been stepped up and billboards speak to the Fair, while the lineup of ambassadors for the event has been boosted with top artiste Edem, a native of the Region.
Mr Dela Gadzanku, Chairman of the AGI for Eastern, Volta, and Oti Regions, said while unveiling the new brand ambassadors that the upcoming Fair was going to be an “African Fair,” noting exhibitors are expected from across the continent.
He disclosed high officials, who have confirmed attending the Volta Fair as ECOWAS Director of Business Promotion and its Secretariat, AfCFTA Secretariat, Chief of Staff, Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Trade of Congo, and a number of Ambassadors and High Commissioners.
Once again, the Fair is going to set the highly sought stage for both startups and existing businesses, while the Volta Regional Capital readies to prove its worth as an Oxygen City and the soul of tourism development for the Region.
GNA observes a sharp growth in hospitality facilities including pubs and restaurants in recent times, sure to treat visitors to an ‘Oxygen City’ experience.
GNA