Ghana Action Forum: Ahaspora holds action-oriented conference to help advance Ghana’s development

Ahaspora Professionals Network (Ahaspora) has this week finally held its much-anticipated ‘Ghana Action Forum’ event aimed at engaging Ghanaians living abroad and at home in an action-oriented conference, to advance Ghana's development.

The two-day event commenced with an in-person conference held in Accra at the Kempinski Hotel, on Thursday, March 3, 2022.

The conference which is part of Ahaspora’s 10 years anniversary has been put together in partnership with Ghana Diaspora Public Affairs Collective (GHPAC), the USA, and The Diaspora Drive, Ghana/ UK hosts ‘Ghana Action Forum’.

Delivering a speech as a Special Guest of Honour on Day One of the event, the Second Lady of Ghana, Her Excellency Samira Bawumia congratulated Ahaspora for the successes achieved in the last ten years and wish the outfit more of the same in the future.

“Congratulations on ten years of work to bridge the diaspora and indeed ten years for any organization is remarkable and worth celebrating and I wish you continued success in the years to come.

“It is inspiring to see that many of you in this room are contributing significantly to entrepreneurship to our nation’s development and rising to the challenges that are posed by this pandemic,” Her Excellency Samira Bawumia shared.

Her Excellency Samira Bawumia

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The Second Lady said under the current government ably led by President Akufo-Addo, efforts have been made to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

Her Excellency Samira Bawumia used the opportunity to charge Ghanaians in the diaspora to capitalise on the many opportunities emanating from the African Continental Free Trade Area and bring investments into the country.

“I know that the coming in of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement also brings us a lot of opportunities. And so this is an area that we all have to look at. This will create the largest free trade area in the world. So the opportunities are immense.

“The AfCFTA will play a vital role in aiding countries establish trade partnerships, thereby facilitating the establishment of businesses across borders on the continent. I encourage all Ghanaians in the diaspora to take advantage of this to bring investment into the country,” Her Excellency Samira Bawumia said at the Ahaspora event.

The Second Lady further assured Ahaspora that the Akufo-Addo government is committed to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and this will also ensure that all Ghanaians and those in the diaspora will be able to invest in Ghana, open businesses through simplified processes, agencies, institutions, and government initiatives such as the government investment promotions and the Ghana tourism authority.

Mounting the stage to deliver her address, the Founder of Ahaspora, Christabel E. Dadzie stressed that through the Ghana Action Forum, her outfit wants to turn discussions into actions to contribute to the development of the country.

“This is how and why we are here today - to ensure that in our own small way, in our own small corner we put a stamp on our world by contributing to make Ghana a better place, together with all the different stakeholders in our country - political, economic, social, religious - remembering that there is definitely a place for each of us to make a difference,” she told the gathering.

According to the Ahaspora Founder, the opportunities in Ghana and on the continent are vast and it’s about time people in the diaspora returned home to utilise those opportunities by applying the knowledge and experience acquired abroad.

Christabel E. Dadzie told the gathering, “Today I encourage every participant to help tap into this movement - to identify a system or initiative to create, support, or scale up because together we are the change we want to see, and this change should start now.”

Through the Network she founded in 2011, she has managed to grow Ahaspora over the years to become the most vibrant group of people from the diaspora pushing to inspire change for the development of Ghana.

Having graced the conference as keynote speakers, Akwasi Aqua-Ababio, Director of Diaspora Affairs at the office of the President, and Akwasi Agyeman, CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority both assured Ahaspora of the government’s readiness to collaborate to embark on projects geared towards the development of the country.

In addition to several other keynote speakers that featured at the Ghana Action Forum, there were panel presentations, goal-and-results oriented round tables discussions all focused on channeling the knowledge and skills acquired by people from the diaspora to help Ghana’s development.