Graphic, FBNBank to support businesses on AfCFTA

To guarantee that the nation benefits fully from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Graphic Communications Group Ltd. (GCGL) and the FBNBank have pledged to assist the expansion of regional companies.

The two organizations have decided to investigate a few particular areas that will support local firms in expanding their capabilities.

This was revealed during a discussion about potential areas of cooperation between the top management of the two companies yesterday.

During the conference, the bank contributed GH¢20,000 to help the Graphic Digitalized Archives Project, which houses data and national documents spanning more than 70 years.

Each team gave the other a briefing on some of their new inventions, operations, and planned interventions.

The GCGL team comprised the Director, Sales and Marketing, Franklin Sowa; Editor, Graphic, Theophilus Yartey; Tax and Management Accountant, Albert Ziem, and Senior Corporate Communications Officer, Yvonne Aryee.

The FBNBank team, led by the Managing Director, Victor Yaw Asante, comprised Head of Retail, Allen Quaye: Treasurer, Grace Isaac-Aryee; and the Country Team Lead, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Enoch Vanderpuye.

“We have done a lot of work around the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and it’s obvious that if we do not break that bane where people started businesses and when they are no more the business dies, Ghana cannot access all the benefits around the AfCFTA.

“So maybe, we can have monthly or quarterly engagements on certain sectors and pitch to them what we have in plan and how we can help them to grow.

We will tell them what they need to do at every point in time to get whatever support they need to get,” Mr. Sowa said.

He thanked the bank for its ongoing assistance to the GCGL and urged more such ventures in the future.

He recommended to the bank that it broaden the scope of its CSR program to assist financially disadvantaged youngsters in obtaining access to the Junior Graphic newspaper.

He clarified that children in the majority of public schools in the nation were not allowed to access the Junior Graphic because the schools were not allowed to sell anything to them, as a result of certain policies surrounding the country’s educational system.

He claimed that as a result, private schools were at a competitive edge over public ones, particularly in the Junior Graphic National Essay Competition.

According to Mr. Sowa, the reason public schools did not place as well in the competition was because they did not have access to the same newspaper as private schools.

The winners of the past few years have had the good fortune to attend the UN General Assembly, but regrettably, only private schools have benefited. As a result, we believe that corporate Ghana will need to provide a certain amount of support in order to guarantee that our public schools have access to the publications.

“We will also try our best to ensure that such gestures are published in the paper, and the bank can come on board to pay for a number of copies to be distributed to some public schools,” Mr. Sowa said.

Confidence

Victor Yaw Asante, the MD of FBNBank, pledged that the bank would keep collaborating closely for the benefit of both entities.

“We view Graphic as a friend, and I believe we have identified a few key areas in which we can work together transactionally to the youth’s advantage.

Mr. Asante stated, “The youth are our future, and as a bank, we have worked closely with them in that regard. We hope to have you on board.”

About Author