CanCham says past trade missions have mostly delivered mining deals, a record it hopes to broaden at its August 20 CEOs’ Connect summit in Accra.
The Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce (CanCham) will host the event from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, under the theme “Financing the Future: Capital Strategies for Cross-Border Business Expansion.” The gathering marks the chamber’s tenth anniversary and centres on how Ghanaian and Canadian firms can raise capital to expand beyond domestic markets.
A panel will bring together five executives who sit at different points of Ghana’s capital and market-access chain: Ghana Stock Exchange chief executive Abena Amoah, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre chief executive Simon Madjie, Ghana Free Zones Authority chief executive Mary Awusi, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat private sector engagement director Cynthia Gnassingbe-Essonam, and Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana country chief financial officer Calleb Osei. Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, is billed as guest of honour, alongside Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Asiama and Canadian High Commissioner Myriam Montrat.
The summit follows government efforts to reset the economy, restore investor confidence and roll out its 24-Hour Economy programme, giving the financing discussion added weight this year.
CanCham has previously acknowledged that its outcomes have skewed toward one sector. At the chamber’s January anniversary launch, president Linda Vasnani said trade missions organised over the past decade had produced collaborations “focused on value addition rather than one-sided gains,” concentrated mainly in mining. This year’s panel deliberately widens the lineup to cover capital markets, free zones, continental trade and commercial banking rather than a single industry.
The morning closes with business-to-business meetings, which chamber officials say have turned the event from a talking shop into deals on structured finance, private equity, cross-border joint ventures, FDI regulation and high-growth sectors including agribusiness, fintech and manufacturing.
