Ghanaian businessman Daniel McKorley, popularly known as McDan, says Ghana’s economy and society at large does not provide the needed atmosphere for local businesses to spring and thrive as it does for foreign businesses.
The founder, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the McDan Group of Companies posits that this is particular to just Ghana.
“We are living in a society where we have so much hatred for successful people. We are in an economy where we need to support our own but we end up supporting foreigners,” he said on the AM Show.
“Dangote was built by a political party. A President woke up one day and said Dangote go this way. If it were Ghana, it would have been politicised. It makes things difficult. Now the whole world is celebrating Dangote. He has his own problems but the whole world is celebrating him. One President built him and he has been reigning as Africa’s richest man for how long? For over decades. This man ended up employing so many people.”
According to the 53-year-old, the private businesses, if left to thrive under the needed environment, will provide more jobs and spur economic development than the government capacity can deliver.
“Some of us we are just drivers leading the way. If I get the support, I will employ more people than government. Government can’t do much. We have a very stable political environment and what we need is a stable economic indicator that the businessman must thrive on. It is our job to create the enabling economic environment to drive on.”
He encouraged the government to recognize the value of private businesses and their contributions, in order to reap the full benefits.
“Many times to be a businessman, it’s not really about yourself. It’s about the environment around you. You make government relax in employment. What we need now is employment so as a businessman, it’s lonely at the top. I wake up at dawn thinking about how to put bread and butter on the tables of the thousands of men I have employed…the environment is not conducive, your focus will be on Daniel McKorley but you will be killing thousands of jobs. It’s about time we looked beyond the man.”
Source:opemsuo.com