The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) is holding a-five-day training in export marketing fundamentals for exporters to help meet the non-traditional exports target of $25.3 billion in the next 10 years.
The workshop aims to support the export community to acquire managerial, technical and trade capacity as well as understand the current global export trends to give Ghana a competitive edge.
Mr Albert Kassim Diwura, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, speaking at the opening session, said the Authority was scaling up its marketing training programmes for exporters to enhance capacity and ensure they met required standards in the global market.
This would allow the GEPA to attain the needed growth and boost non-traditional exports.
“It is a strategic pillar in our national export development strategy that we build the capacity of our exporters to deliver on our mandate,” he said.
This will be done through the expansion of exporters production to produce enough to feed the market.
“So, what we are saying is that let’s broaden the base. Let’s see how best we can have what we want to export and then the second pillar talks about the enabling environment and the standards,” Mr Diwura said.
“We also build the capacity of the stakeholders such that when they go out there, they can compete favourably with the rest of their counterparts in the world,” he said.
Mr Diwura said the training was in line with the National Export Development Strategy, which aims to boost NTEs exports to $25.3 billion in the next 10 years.
He said the ability to achieve the target rested on the various stakeholders, including the Standards Authority, the Foods and Drugs Authority and the exporters.
He urged the trainees to build network and not to compete unnecessary among themselves so they could tap into others’ expertise to boost trade.
“We are discouraging them from competing with one another because we have come of age and we need to take advantage of the export market.
“Instead of competing among ourselves let us collaborate to be able to meet the expectations of the export market. For us it is better to collaborate and share proceeds than losing the opportunity,” he said.
He said the Ghana Export School was always ready to develop training modules to meet the needs of product associations and identified groups of persons.
Mr Diwura said building the skills and capacities of exporters were very critical if the country’s goal of increasing export returns was to be achieved.
He said exporters needed to be schooled on recent trends and changes in the export market to remain competitive and help the country to grow its export base.
Among the topics being treated are Export Marketing Research, Product Planning and Product Adaptation, Legal Contracts and Negotiations, Sanitary and Photosanitary Specification and Export Procedures and Documentation.
He expressed the hope that the training would provide the opportunity to contribute towards a much stronger sector.
The Ghana Export School was set up by GEPA, the National Export Trade Support Institution of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) responsible for the facilitation, development and promotion of Ghanaian exports in 1987 to address the training needs of the export community.
Source: GNA
