The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Simon Madjie, has emphasized the need to diversify Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) beyond Ghana’s traditionally competitive sectors, such as gold and oil.

Speaking during an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point of View on Channel One TV, Mr. Madjie acknowledged that Ghana’s natural resources attract investors, but stressed the importance of expanding investment opportunities into other sectors.

“As a country, we have our natural competitive areas, we have natural resources- gold, oil with these products, even if you are at war, it’s not everywhere in the world, [they are still valuable] so you are going to get people to invest in those areas,” he stated.

However, he noted that Ghana must go beyond these industries by identifying and promoting investment opportunities across all districts.

“What we need to do is how do we transcend beyond the ones that we’re naturally competitive to actually diversify Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in developing our country. What I have been thinking about with the team is that we need to map out the investment opportunities in all of our districts, which will result in regional investment opportunities.

“It will help our local businessmen who often feel they have been left to know where the investment opportunities are.”

Mr. Madjie believes such a blueprint will benefit local businesses by highlighting potential investment areas and assisting Ghana’s missions abroad in marketing the country effectively.

“It will also help our own missions abroad to market the country. The media can also market the country if they have the data. We need to move away from the ones that we are naturally competitive with and look at where the opportunities are.

“In that, we will be able to sell our country to ourselves and those who are interested. If we have a blueprint, the President of Ghana can refer to it while traveling around the world to attract investors,” he added.