The company, which has been prospecting the Ghanaian market for the past two years, considers the investment as important to enable it to penetrate not only the Ghanaian market, but using it as a hub office to serve the entire West African region.

The General Manager of REHAU Ghana, Mr Wolf Ehrke, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic at the fifth West African Clean Energy and Environment Exhibition and Conference (WACEE), an event put together by the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK Ghana) in collaboration with fairtrade, a German event organiser.

The event, which AHK Ghana and the German government uses to promote Ghana and West Africa as a good business destination to its companies, was incidentally boycotted by Ghanaian ministers who were invited and profiled in the event brochure to make presentations.

Increased investments in Ghana

Mr Ehrke said REHAU, an international leader in construction, automotive and industry with energy efficient solutions, had started its presence in the country with energy efficient plastic window profiles which offered superior quality and benefits to aluminium window frames predominant on the local market.

“We want to set up a warehouse big enough to stock all our panels and products. We will also set up the manufacturing plant to produce semi-finished window panels with single or double glazed glasses to fit customer specifications,” he said.

The company would work with resellers who already fabricate and install aluminium glazing doors and windows. But since its products require appropriate tools and equipment, it will also set up a training facility equipped with up-to-date tools and equipment to train them.

“One of our objectives is to educate those who already have the shops because with their tools, they cannot use our products. So our training factory will equip them with the skills and capacity,” Mr Ehrke stated, expressing the belief that their facilities would be inaugurated by January next year.

REHAU windows with single glaze are able to improve energy efficiency by about 50 per cent, with double glazing,it is able to save energy up to about a third.  

Thumbs up for WACEE 2016

Mr Ehrke was happy about visitor interests shown in their products at WACEE 2016, saying although this year’s appeared to be a smaller exhibition, it was worth the participation due to the large show of interest by visitors inquests they received.

Another exhibitor, Tino Solutions, a local solar distributor, was also satisfied with the exhibition, owing to the level of requests shown in their products.

Mr Peter Kuugyire, a representative of the company, said their company was already certified by the Energy Commission and were also involved in the national solar rooftop programme.

He said the company sourced its products from The Netherlands and provided tailor-made solutions, including financial plans to their customers, all in an effort to deepen the adoption of renewable energy solutions in the country.

About WACEE 2016

The clean energy, energy efficient and environment exhibition also run concurrently with a three-day conference, as well as the German Solar Training Week.

The exhibition and conference has become the flagship event of AHK and its parent ministry, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in West Africa.

This year, the Federal Ministry supported 11 companies in the German Pavilion to participate in the fair under the Made-in-Germany programme. In all, about 40 exhibitors participated in the fair from Europe, West Africa and Ghana.

AHK is hoping to take next year’s exhibition and conference to Nigeria, the biggest market in West Africa to give a really international character to WACEE.