10th Ghana CEO Summit | (28-05-2026)

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]responsible indigenous enterprises.

[00:00:03]Who will build the continental champions that we aspire to create?

[00:00:08]No nation has industrialized by undermining its own productive capacity.

[00:00:15]The economies we admire today regulate strongly, but they also protect strategic industries.

[00:00:25]They hold companies accountable, but they do not dismantle domestic champions lightly.

[00:00:32]They understand that scale is a national asset.

[00:00:36]In Ghana, we must develop that same institutional maturity.

[00:00:42]If an indigenous enterprise fails governance standards, we should correct it.

[00:00:48]If it breaches the law, we should hold it accountable.

[00:00:52]But if it is building responsibly, creating jobs, paying taxes, innovating, and contributing to national growth, then we must protect its ability to scale.

[00:01:06]Because raising African champions requires more than an individual ambition.

[00:01:13]It requires institutional maturity. It requires policy coherence, and it requires our collective understanding that sustainable scale benefits the nation, not merely the founder.

[00:01:29]Distinguished guests, Africa's greatest deficit is not lack of ideas. Africa and Ghana does not suffer from poverty of ambition.

[00:01:40]Too often, Africa suffers from inconsistency of execution.

[00:01:45]Infrastructure alone does not transform nation.

[00:01:49]Leadership does.

[00:01:52]Africa requires a new generation of leaders in business and government.

[00:01:59]Think beyond election cycles, beyond quarterly profit, and beyond narrow national interest. We need leaders prepared to build institutions.

[00:02:11]No transformation agenda can succeed where leaders fail.

[00:02:16]That brings me to my next topic, which is quite important to myself.

[00:02:22]And I I think it should be to most of the founders in in this room.

[00:02:28]Another of Africa's most under-discussed economic challenge is the inability to institutionalize wealth to institutionalize wealth across generations.

[00:02:44]Then I'm talking about family wealth and transgenerational enterprise.

[00:02:48]Too much African wealth disappears within one generation because it is construed it is consumed rather than structured, fragmented rather than institutionalized, which means when we make the money, we buy the cars and the buildings and all those slot and it disappears when Alex Daddy passes on. It all disappears. And that is what African wealth is.

[00:03:12]No civilization advances sustainably when wealth disappears every generation.

[00:03:19]Yet globally, many of the world's most enduring corporations were built through disciplined family capital, succession planning, governance structures, and long-term reinvestment strategies.

[00:03:35]If Ghana is serious about building sustainable business champions, then family wealth must be viewed not merely as an inheritance, which the family comes in and takes over, but it should be viewed as an asset class for building trans generational enterprises. So, you don't you just don't make money and think that it goes it goes to be inherited.

[00:04:01]Founders of us in in this room, those who have made a bit of wealth should look at wealth as an asset class to be reinvested in our communities. But, this requires intentional investment, investment in family offices, investment in holding structures, governance systems, succession frameworks, and long-term capital redeployment into productive sectors of the economy.

[00:04:31]The future African business champion must not simply create wealth.

[00:04:37]He or she must transfer institutional memory, capability, values, productive capital across generations.

[00:04:49]In conclusion, your Excellency, let me leave us with one final thought.

[00:04:55]The mission before us is greater than any individual person or corporate success.

[00:05:04]Greater task is nation building through enterprise and raising and to build great African champions.

[00:05:14]Champions to create prosperity, champions to empower young people, champions to strengthen institutions, drive innovation, scale across borders, build industrial capacity, and shape Africa's economic future.

[00:05:37]The African Africa, therefore, Sorry.

[00:05:44]And this is the Africa that we intend to build. Thank you very much. May God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.

[00:06:01]>> And that's how we move from vision to action, raising African champions through leadership, resilience, and industrial skill. Mr. Alex Apau Addo, the executive chairman of the KTL Group, please one more time, a round of applause.

[00:06:17]It's a new day for trade in Ghana and Africa, one certainly marked by value addition. Hence, Ghana's Ministry for Trade, Agribusiness, and Industry.

[00:06:30]Please make welcome the sector minister, the honorable Elizabeth Owusu-Adjare, for her remarks.

[00:06:49]>> [music] >> Thank you very much. On the happy note of a taxpayer volunteering to pay more, Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, the chairperson for the occasion, Togbe Afede XIV, ministers of state, senior government officials, members of Parliament, the Governor of Bank of Ghana, members of the diplomatic corps, chief executives of state and private institutions, great captains of industry, development partners, distinguished CEO, ladies and gentlemen, good day.

[00:07:43]When governments, men and women who invest, produce, employ, and take risk to grow this economy gather in one room, it is an occasion to listen carefully, speak frankly, and commit to practical steps.

[00:08:02]It is in that spirit that I'm honored to address the 10th Ghana CEO Summit and Expo in the distinguished presence of His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama and our respected leaders of industry.

[00:08:15]Your Excellency, your presence here today, following your recent engagement with members of the Chief Executive Network Ghana at Jubilee House, signals a structured purposeful dialogue between government and the private sector is not optional, but essential.

[00:08:34]I'm also here to commend the Chief Executive Network Ghana for sustaining this platform for 10 years.

[00:08:42]A decade of convening government CEOs, investors, and policy makers is a meaningful and lasting contribution to Ghana's economic life.

[00:08:53]Your Excellency, under your visionary leadership, you have made it clear that Ghana's transformation will not come from exporting raw materials and import importing finished goods at higher cost.

[00:09:06]Your administration has backed that conviction with actions through bold initiatives such as Feed the Industry Program, which directly connects agricultural production to industrial demand, ensuring that factories have reliable local raw materials rather than turning to costly imports.

[00:09:28]These deliberate policy choices are already beginning to shift the structure of our economy, and my ministry is proud to be at the center of their implementation.

[00:09:39]Your Excellency, this overwhelming theme of this summit calls on all of us to move from vision to action.

[00:09:47]And it is precisely within that call that I wish to situate the specific dimension I've been asked to address today.

[00:09:56]The role of leadership, technology, and industrialization as catalyst for Ghana's economic transformation.

[00:10:05]These, I believe, are practical levers [music] that determine whether