Please join the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong for a webinar on Ghana, Gateway to Africa: opportunities for Hong Kong businesses.
Join our webinar and have the opportunity to join Commonwealth Chamber Hong Kong for 12 months free of charge!
About the Webinar
The webinar takes place on 28th September 2021 (Tuesday) at 6-7pm Hong Kong time 10 am to 11 am, Accra Time and London time.
Ghana is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. Apart from natural resources, including gold, oil, aluminium and cocoa, it is increasingly a “new service economy”, with young entrepreneurs taking advantage of a business-friendly environment to pursue opportunities in fintech, entertainment and virtual tourism.
A founding member of the Commonwealth, Ghana forms one end of the Meridian Link between London and the Port of Tema. Its use of English as a lingua franca for law and commerce help it to fulfil its self-declared mission of being the “Gateway to Africa”
Ghana is host to the African Continental Free Trade Area, and to the Headquarters of the China-Africa Development Fund in West Africa. Over 700,000 ethnic Chinese live in Ghana, many of them of Hong Kong origin, and China is Ghana’s largest trading partner.
Against this attractive background, the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong has organized this webinar, at which four prominent Ghanaian speakers will discuss inward investment from Hong Kong into Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa, the financial, retail and tourism sectors and the opportunities for Hong Kong entrepreneurs as the world emerges from the Covid crisis.
Introduction
Ms Julia Charlton, Chairman, Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce HK: Julia is the founding and managing partner of Charltons, an award winning Hong Kong corporate finance Hong Kong law firm. Julia is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong, England and Wales and the BVI. She practises in the field of corporate finance, including M&A, private equity, securities, virtual assets and funds.
Julia is a member of the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council (CWEIC)’s Global Advisory Council. She is also a member of several Hong Kong boards and committees, most notably The Takeovers and Mergers Panel and the Takeovers Appeals Committee of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and the Listing Review Committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Julia is also a Senior Fellow of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute.
Moderator
Mr Andrew Wells, General-Secretary, Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce HK: Mr Andrew Wells is Chairman of China Golden Bridge Group, a family company with interests in public services and real estate consultancy; financial services and M&A; and hospitality and green development.
He is a former scholar of King’s College Cambridge. After working in Palestine, India and Iran, he joined the Administrative Service in Hong Kong in 1978. His roles included Deputy Secretary to the Executive and Legislative Councils, Secretary to the Hong Kong Education Commission, Founding Director of the Hong Kong Open University, and Deputy Secretary for Trade and Industry, Finance and Housing.
After retiring from the Government in 2003, Andrew worked as a senior executive in Lai Sun Development, a listed property group. He also served as the Chief Secretary and Acting Governor of three British Overseas Territories from 2008 to 2011. In January 2021, Andrew was appointed Secretary-General of the new Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, whose mission is to strengthen business ties between Hong Kong and Commonwealth enterprises.
Andrew was a long-standing member of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong and is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. His roles in the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce include Vice Chairmanship of the Asia Africa Committee, membership of the Europe and Real Estate and Infrastructure Committees and membership of the Belt and Road Initiative and Sustainable Finance Working Groups.
Panellists
Mr Yofi Grant, CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre: Reginald Yofi Grant, draws from over three decades of a successful career and experience in investment banking and finance as he heads the Ghana Investment Promotion Agency, under the Office of the President of Ghana.
He is unquestionably recognized in the fields of Financial Markets and Investment and has co-founded several companies including Grant Dupuis Investment Limited, and Praxis Fortune Caliber. Yofi is an accomplished leader — an attribute that transcends beyond his country’s borders, where he is a key financial policy adviser. On the continent, he’s credited with having successfully led several advisory mandates involving both equity and debt transactions, including the development and implementation of AAF SME Fund LLC, one of the largest agriculture funds in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As a council member of the Continental Business Network of the African Union, and a member of the board of trustees of the OACP Endowment and Trust Fund he remains passionately committed to shaping the continent’s financial and economic transformation. Yofi is also on the Steering Board of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) representing Sub Saharan Africa and continues to serve on a number of private and public sector boards.
He is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Mr Akwasi Agyeman, CEO, Ghana Tourism Authority; Akwasi Agyeman, is the CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority, the lead Public Service Agency in charge of regulating tourism in Ghana through marketing and promotion, licensing and classification of tourism facilities and services, investments, research and development. Before his appointment in January 2017, he was a shareholding partner of Global Media Alliance, a Media Consultancy and broadcasting company. As the Managing Director of its broadcasting operations, he was in charge of one TV Station and four radio stations. Until recently, he was the President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA).
He holds an MBA in Marketing and Information Systems from Tulane University in Louisiana (2003), USA – an MBA Merit Scholarship Recipient. He also holds a Bachelors degree in Social Sciences (1993) and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA -1996) from the University of Ghana.
Ms Adjoba Kyiamah, Executive Director, UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce: Adjoba is currently the Executive Director at the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, a trade association that promotes bilateral trade between the UK and Ghana. For one year before that, she was Senior Associate at SESI LEGAL, Legal Consultants, Arbitrators & Notaries Public. From 2007 until the end of 2017, she was the Legal & Corporate Affairs Director for Accra Brewery Limited, the Ghana subsidiary of ABInbev, the world’s largest beer company.
Adjoba has spent over eighteen years of her career in senior corporate management roles in the fast moving consumer goods manufacturing industry and media management where she developed an excellent track record of providing best-practice legal and stakeholder engagement advice and support to both Management and Board.
In addition to successfully minimizing legal risk Adjoba has extensive experience in corporate reputation management, managing corporate compliance, executing corporate transactions, Human Resource management, procurement and managing key stakeholder engagements.
Dentaa Amoateng MBE, Diaspora and international relations manager Asante Kotoko S.C, AsanteKotoko Inc: Mrs Dentaa Amoateng MBE is the President and Founder of the Grow Unite, Build, Africa (GUBA) Enterprise brand. GUBA is a social enterprise organisation dedicated to the advancement of diaspora Africans and Africans back home through various socio–economic programs and initiatives.
Before her establishment of the GUBA Enterprise, Dentaa was first introduced to the viewing public in 2006 with her hit TV show ‘The Dentaa Show’. The Dentaa Show which still airs today on Fox Life Africa is an entertainment program filled with exclusive and educative interviews from global dignitaries. She currently serves on many reputable boards including the Ghana Tourism Authority and has been instrumental in attracting tourism and business to Ghana.