Alex Apau Dadey, Executive Chairman of the KGL Group, and Board Chairman of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, has won two awards at the 7th CEOs summit held in Accra. He picked Group CEO of the Year for Conglomerate Business and the Diaspora Business of the Year.
The awards are in acknowledgement of KGL Group’s excellent performance in the calendar year and contributions made in increasing Diaspora relations thereby contributing to the Ghanaian economy. The awards were presented by former President former President John Dramani Mahama who was last week elected as the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress.
Mr. Dadey spoke on “Economic Sovereignty: The Role of the Ghanaian Diaspora in achieving Economic Sovereignty and Good Corporate governance” where he stressed on the need for government to do more with policies and take specific action to remove obstacles that hamper the ultimate goal of achieving economic sovereignty.
The Ghanaian Diaspora who have gained valuable skills, knowledge contacts and experience abroad should be incentivised directly to transfer more than remittances home. Everyone in this room, like me, has a story to telll. Unique and mutually related as a collective should commit to seeding business, training mentoring, partnering and opening new opportunities, together.
“The Government must do more with policies, specific action and focusing on our institutions .The Government must take specific action to remove the obstacles that hamper our goal of achieving Economic Sovereignty”.
He continued, “We note and welcome the Three Billion bailout negotiated by the Government with the International Monetary Fund. We have been here before. The team that led the successful negotiations are Diaspora Ghanaians who have returned home and demonstrated tremendous capacity This is our opportunity, ladies and Gentlemen, to implement coherent diaspora engagement policies. The Mantra is, and should be, DDI (Diaspora Direct Investment) for economic sovereignty”.
He reiterated that “Your Excellency, end by answering the weighty theme set out at the very beginning. In my opinion, achieving Economic Sovereignty requires a careful, nuanced and coherent approach to engaging the Ghanaian Diaspora, first and in particular.
The KGL Group and I remain committed and optimistic that the formal coherent inclusion of our own Diaspora with good corporate governance, a robust Public-Private partnership, the right application of Technology can enable Ghana to deliver Economic Sovereignty.
“I am excited about our future, a Ghana that is brave, bold and fearless, investing in and leveraging off the capacity and expertise of our own tried and tested Diaspora, first, to be self sufficient We must transcend the age old practice of leaning on returns of natural resources as staples for economic growth In the new fast paced global world, We must lean on the Ghanaian Diaspora”.