Access To Finance Is Our Major Setback—AGAM Tells Gov’t

The President of the Association of Ghana Apparel Manufacturers (AGAM) Ms Nura Salifu has appealed to the government to make access to finance very accessible for the apparel sector.

According to her, AGAM currently employs thousands of youth and physically challenged, hence access to finance remains a huge deficit to the development of the industry players.

Ms. Nura Salifu disclosed this in an interview with the media at a day validation of a three-year Action Plan and Launch of a Website to strengthen AGAM to implement interventions aimed at stimulating growth of the sector organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in partnership with AGAM on 1st November 2023, in Accra.

She noted that the partnership with ILO will enable AGAM to work towards promoting sustainable and ethical business practices to ensure that economic progress is synonymous with social and environmental responsibility.

“Today, as we launch the Agam website, we are taking a significant step towards enhancing our digital presence and our ability to connect with our members and partners around the world.

The website will serve as a hub for information, resources, and networking opportunities, allowing us to reach a wider audience and provide more support to our members and the broader business community.

We firmly believe that business can be a force for good and that it can create opportunities for all, from the smallest of artisans to the largest manufacturers”, Ms Nura stated.

The workshop forms part of Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work (PE4DW) and was funded by the governments of Switzerland and Norway through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) respectively.

About AGAM

The Association of Ghana Apparel Manufacturers (AGAM) is a business network and advocacy association with membership from the Apparel, Garments, Textiles, and related producers whose main mission is to promote apparel business interests.

As the nation’s largest apparel-based organization, its goal is to sustain and further develop a thriving industry and enhance the quality of life of its members.

At the core of AGAM’s advocacy mission is job creation. Strengthening the Nation’s ability to attract, keep, and grow apparel-based jobs is the association’s highest priority, and central to their vision.

AGAM currently employs about 10,000 workers (mostly between 18 to 35 years, including the physically challenged). Capital investment in the factories is between $300,000 to over $5,000,000.

Members of the association have industry expertise averaging 20 to 35 years both internationally and locally. AGAM exported about 24 million dollars in 2021.

Membership machine capacity ranges from 25 to about 6000 machines per factory. The average machine size is 100 to 300, and membership is tiered. Members are located across the country. AGAM is predominantly female and youth-oriented i.e. ownership, management, and workforce.

AGAM has good membership and many opportunities to support its membership to be productive and competitive. However, the association is not well organized and operational. They do not have a plan that guides their actions toward achieving an expected goal. In line with this, the ILO has assisted AGAM in developing a three-year Action Plan that will form the basis of their operations in the coming years.

Source:Beyonce Diamond Kpogli