Abena Amoah, the deputy managing director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has bemoaned the low interest by local businesses to grow their firms by listing on the GSE.
The deputy managing director of the GSE believes there is a myriad of funding opportunities that local businesses can tap into by listing on the bourse.
Speaking to Kojo Mensah on the sidelines of the just ended Ghana Economic Forum in Accra, Amoah said “almost all the Nigerian Banks in Ghana are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, South Africa banks are listed in their country, here in Ghana we have only about 40 firms listed on the exchange.”
“We have reached out to a lot of Ghanaian businesses, many of them had misconception as to how to list on the GSE.”
Amoah added: “We have actually made the process as simple as possible and we have entered into MoU with various associations like AGI, Stanford Seed Transformation Network etc, …and we are engaging with them…”
Amoah was, however, optimistic the current educational campaign on the need for local businesses to list on the bourse will yield some fruits.
“Many have been afraid of opening up to other shareholders, because the point of being accountable, they see it as a very difficult matter.”
“The pride of every Nigerian business is to be quoted on their stock market and I think the education we are doing should see a lot more Ghanaians listed,” she added.
About 40 firms are currently listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange since the inception of the bourse in July 1989.
Ghana Economic Forum
This year, the Ghana Economic Forum is being held under the theme: Strengthening homegrown policies to underpin the national digitization drive and shared financial prosperity; from October 18 to 20 October at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel, Accra.
Initiated in 2012, the Ghana Economic Forum has grown to become the biggest gathering for national discourse on the economy, business, technology, and appropriate policy interventions. The integration of YEF into this innovative event will no doubt further enhance its impact.
Fred Dzakpata
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