Board Chairman of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), and Founder of PanAvest International and Partners, Professor Douglas Boateng, has charged Ghanaians and Africans at large to be conscious of procurement sourcing and fine-tune their mindset toward promoting the indigenous market.
Speaking as a Guest Speaker at the second edition of the Pan Africa Lecture organized at GIMPA by the Department of Management Science, Professor Douglas Boateng reiterated that Africans have the resources and capacity to make the continent a dreamland.
According to him, the dream will only be achieved through the right mindset and strategic purchasing of African products.
“My experiences across the African continent and some parts of America and Europe over the past 25 years have indicated that procurement is the key to our prosperity. Without procurement, we are going nowhere as a people. The government knows my views that we have to do something about procurement and strategic sourcing. Because we can’t keep consuming what we don’t produce. Africa as a continent produces more jobs than any other continent in the world because we export our currencies to go and buy and bring it back to be consumed,” he said.
The staunch Pan-Africanist further admitted to some prevailing challenges with the development of African countries but, urged African leaders to derail from the individualism mentality and promote cohesiveness among states.
“I believe that the artificial borders shouldn’t weigh us back that is why AfCFTA has been created but it is up to us to make it work. The Africa that we desire is in our own hands,” he said.
“Let’s not kid ourselves because there are challenges with covid, the war, and economic crises among others but out of these, I see an opportunity. Africans were doing fine until Covid came. It was a wakeup call to us and there was a lot we could have done to upskill our development. We produced our nose masks with the cloth but most of us preferred the Chinese production due to pricing,” he added.
Professor Douglas Boateng further disclosed that much insight on the topic has been highlighted in his latest book titled, ‘Executive Insight Series: Insights Into Strategic Sourcing: The inextricable link to Africa’s long-term industrialisation, supply chain governance and economic development.
During the lecture 50 lucky students received free copies of the insightful research and key to Africa’s development.
The Chairman for the occasion, Professor Martin Tuuli, Deputy Rector for Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) shared, “The lecture by the renowned professor, Douglas Boateng is a very important discussion to have as a people. We need to empower our young ones that it is possible and that not all hope is lost. They are important and the key group that can drive Africa to where it needs to be and for us this lecture is just the right step to take.”
On his part, Professor Ebenezer Adaku, the Host and Head of the Department of Management Science indicated that the brain behind the lecture is to bridge the gap between classroom education and real-life practices.
The lecture witnessed the presence of renowned dignitaries including Mr. Richard Okrah, the President of the Chartered Institute of Supply Chain Management, SRC President of GIMPA, Emmanuel Andrews Sammini, Dean of Business School- Professor Fameyeh, and Former Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry among others.
