He said the Group, which had so far provided jobs for over 2,500 Ghanaians, was helping to address the unemployment problem in the country.  He hailed the Group for opening 36 outlets of the shop and further appealed to the management to consider adding 40 more.  Mr Awal commended the group when a high powered delegation from the Melcom Group, led by the Joint Managing Directors Mr Ramesh Sadhwani and Mr Mahesh Melwani, paid a courtesy call on him in Accra.

Other members of the delegation were Mr Godwin Avenorgbo, the Director of Communications; Mrs Sonya Sadhwani, Director, Brand Management and Mr Francis Sam, General Manager.

Other officials at the Business Development Ministry, who were also in the meeting, were Mrs Afua Asabea Asare, Special Advisor to the Minister and Mr Joe Tachie, the Chief Director. Mr Awal said government would continue to create the enabling environment for investors and businesses to thrive.

He noted that government was working on improving on the country’s framework to remove any bottlenecks that hindered private investors and give them the opportunity to expand their businesses and employ more people.

Mr Awal said the recent cut in taxes and the elimination of certain taxes announced by the Government in the 2017 Budget was to facilitate the growth of the private sector, the engine of economic growth.

The Minister said government could be coming out with a package to promote entrepreneurship among students. He said under the programme, tertiary students would be encouraged to develop their own entrepreneurial plans and the best student would be funded to start a business. Mr Sadhwani said the aim of the visit was to congratulate the Minister on his new appointment and to confer with him.

He said the Group consists of four separate entities; Melcom Limited, Crown Star Electronic Industries Limited, Century Industries Limited and Melcom Travel and Tours Limited.

He said over the past five years, the Group had been holding annually a Made-in-Ghana Festival to showcase and to promote quality made in Ghana products.  Mr Melwani said as part of their efforts to reach every part of the nation, new outlets for the Melcom Shop would be opened in Mankasim in the Central Region and Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, before the close of the year.

Mr Avenorgbo said the Group believed in growing Ghanaian industries adding; “we have created avenues for marketing Made-in-Ghana products with the view to helping create jobs for our teaming graduates at various levels of the educational structure”.

He said the new Achimota Melcom Shopping Mall, a fully-fledged shopping area with insurance, retail banking, pharmacy, hospitality, facilities and services, would be commissioned latest by the first week of May. Mr Avenorgo appealed to government to help make land acquisition by investors easier and flexible.