The mining firm, which placed second in the 2022 edition, topped 99 other companies, including ScancomPlc Ghana (MTN Gha­na), who took the second spot, and Amanex Company Limited, which clinched the third position.

Held at the Accra Internation­al Conference Centre (AICC) on Friday, the event was laced with strategic networking sessions, as well as music and dance.

The event was organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), in collaboration with the MIE Group – organisers of the China Trade Week.

The GIPC flagship event hon­ours top performing entities in the Ghanaian business landscape whose contributions continue to propel the country’s economic growth, and have positive impact on their serving communities.

The top 100 companies that were celebrated were from the agriculture and agribusiness, financial services, ICT, infrastruc­ture, petroleum, mining services, manufacturing, tourism, health, and education sectors.

The financial sector dominated the night as the sector with most numbers enlisted in the 20th Gha­na Club 100 awards.

However, none of its two predominant subsectors at the ceremony – microfinance and insurance made it to the top 10.

GoldFields Ghana (Tarkwa Mine) placed fourth, Newmont Golden Ridge Ltd (Akyem Mine) – fifth, Anglogold Ashanti Ltd – sixth, and Dansworld International Services – seventh.

The Abosso Goldfields Ltd, Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd, and FBNBank Ghana, placed eighth, ninth and 10th positions, respectively.

This year’s Ghana Club 100 awards was held on the theme: “Accelerating Economic Growth: Amplifying Ghana’s Global Market Footprint through AfCFTA (Afri­can Continental Free Trade Area).”

The theme was crafted to engender significant promotion of investment, trade, and knowledge exchange, leading to the stimula­tion of national economic growth.

AfCFTA, which took effect in early 2021, is the world’s largest free trade area by membership, embracing 54 African countries with 1.3 billion population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$2.4 trillion.

Its implementation reflects the collective vision of African leaders to create a unified market, by re­moving all forms of trade barriers to stimulate economic growth andshared prosperity.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr MahamuduBawumia, Vice Pres­ident, stated that “Ghana thrives when the private sector thrives.”

He said it was, therefore, important to strengthen compa­nies in the private sector to enable them to compete effectively in the global market, especially by making them transition into a formalised economy.

The Vice President said the government was doing its part with various initiatives, including the digitalisation of systems, advance­ment in technology and innova­tion, and improving infrastructural development.

He stated that the country’s digitalisation programme had been anchored on the Ghana Card – a biometric-technology national identity card, which had so far enrolled about 17 million people.

“Today, we’ve linked all bank accounts and SIM cards to the Ghana Card. Your tax identifica­tion number and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) number is your Ghana Card number,” Dr Bawumia said.

He also said that: “Today, we’ve linked the Ghana Card number to the Controller and Accountant General Department’s payroll, and we’re seeing increase in formalisa­tion of the economy as a result of digitalisation.”

He encouraged Ghana’s private sector to see AfCFTA as a catalyst for economic expansion, as the implementation of the free trade agreement provided an opportuni­ty to explore opportunities for the continent’s economic prosperity.

“The African Continental Free Trade Area, our compass for this journey, is not merely an agree­ment; it is a beacon guiding us to­wards a future where Ghana stands tall in the global market place,” Dr Bawumia said.

Mr Yofi Grant, Chief Execu­tive Officer, GIPC, noted that in­vestors were aggressively pursuing opportunities in Accra.

That, he said, called for the formation of stronger alliances with Ghanaian companies to create a win-win situation for investors and the country, reiterating that the private sector remained the engine of growth of the Ghanaian economy.

He pledged the centre’s sup­port to create more avenues for enhanced private sector interaction with government.

This will help businesses to thrive, and generate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to support Gha­na’s economic growth and stability.

This year’s celebration, pre­ceded with a three-day Ghana Investment Week in October, which brought together, investors, industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

The summit served as a platform to unlock infrastructural bottlenecks, including in roads, railways, airlines, Information and Communication Technol­ogy (ICT), and energy to make intra-trade on the continent easier and faster.