The Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, has bemoaned the practice where local businesses which are partnering with the government are hunted down and labeled as corrupt for no apparent reason.
He said it was disheartening for Ghanaians, especially a cross section of the media, to deliberately attack indigenous companies because they chose to do business with the government.
“It is only in Ghana that a local company is attacked because it comes up with ideas that can help solve a development problem. If a foreign company gets the same opportunity, nobody cares,” Mr Agyepong said in an interview on Joy FM Monday.
He was of the view that doing business in Ghana was more difficult for indigenous companies than for foreigners.
“The environment in Ghana doesn’t encourage young people to venture into businesses. Ghanaian businesses are not protected and because of that many local companies are still struggling to make head way,” Mr Agyepong said.
During the interview, Mr Agyepong, who has over 45 businesses under the Jospong Group of Companies, addressed a number of issues pertaining to doing business in Ghana.
He also touched on some of the issues concerning his companies, especially Zoomlion Ghana Limited’s contracts with the government and the Road Safety Management Services Limited (RSMSL) towing levy.
Fear
Mr Agyepong said most Ghanaians in the Diaspora, who had the intention to do business in Ghana “are scared to come back home because local businesses are not protected.”
“If this persists and not addressed, a time would come where nobody would think of investing in the local economy,” he said.
Using his businesses as an example, Mr Agyepong said almost all the attacks against him and his business dealings with the government were because he chose to partner the government to solve development problems.
He said Zoomlion Ghana Limited’s decision to partner the government to address the sanitation challenges in Ghana had been heavily criticised, not because the company couldn’t do it but mainly because “it is being done with the government.”
“That is exactly what is happening with the towing levy issue. The idea is being attacked because it is coming from a local company,” he added.
Asked whether he agreed with people who perceived him as greedy, Mr Agyepong said: “I am not greedy but my love for creativity makes a lot of people attack me for no reason.”
“When passion moves me to do something, I don’t look at money,” he added.
Towing service
Touching on the towing service project his company was handling, Mr Agyepong said the RSMSL was ready and prepared to engage more companies, since ” my highest motivation is not the money but to prevent needless deaths caused by stationary vehicles on the road.”
He said he was willing to sign on more companies to partner the RSMSL to help remove vehicles which broke down on the road.
Mr Agyepong said all his business proposals and ideas were to solve problems and not just to make money, adding: “One company is enough to feed my family.”
Source : Graphic Online
