The institutions included financial and pharmaceutical companies which were each presented with mementos and certificates of recognition at a dinner and awards dance held at the weekend in Accra.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Yaw Bediako Sampong, the General Manager (Operations) of the company stated that the company was poised to consolidate the gains made over the last 30 years to expand the wholesale network into the ECOWAS market and to compete favourably with world acclaimed pharmaceutical companies.

He added that Ernest Chemists Limited was already in Sierra Leone and that the company was at the forefront of the work towards the development of the pharmaceutical industry.

Mr Bediako Sampong expressed gratitude to all partners, including its foreign suppliers, the financial institutions which provide the company with credit, as well as its workers for being loyal to the company.

The CEO of the company, Mr Ernest Bediako Sampong, said he started the business while being a student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology after gaining some experience in pharmaceutical business, while working with his father.

Mr Bediako Sampong, one time CIMG Marketing Man of the year, a recipient of Ghana’s Order of the Volta (officer category) awarded and voted twice as 10th Most Respected CEO in Ghana, said the company had engaged in numerous corporate social responsibilities in the education, sports and community development/health sectors.

Mr Winfred Adjei, Assistant Production Manager of the Ernest Chemists Limited, said from a humble beginning, the company had become an unavoidable pharmaceutical and therapeutic avenue for many Ghanaians, as well as people from the West African sub-region and beyond. “The real fact that Ernest Chemists has also positioned itself as a resourceful ‘business mother’ from whom many pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical businesses have been nurtured and cultured cannot be denied,” he said.

As a compassionate and a caring brand, he said the company was also the economic and financial live wire for over 600 Ghanaians and non-Ghanaian employees and their dependents, adding that “all these achievements have been made possible due to the support and sacrifices the company has continuously received”.