British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, has revealed that the UK government is helping Ghana to transform its garments and textile sectors through the UK-Ghana partnership for Jobs and Economic Transformation program.
To date, there is no major textile manufacturing company owned by Ghanaians and possibly no international textile manufacturing company owned by any Africans. Woodin, GTP, and Vlisco all fall under the vlisco group owned by the Dutch. ATL and Printex are based in Ghana Printex is owned by the Lebanese and ATL is rumored to be owned by the Chinese through the lease of a Ghanaian woman.
However, despite this, what is even more threatening is the mass Chinese import of fabrics from China, and also the dominant African textile manufacturers ‘High Target’ which is also based in China.
According to Harriet Thompson, the program seeks to achieve the goal of aiding the sector to grow and attract more investment opportunities to reach its highest potential.
Thompson and her team visited the Volta Star Textile Limited (VSTL) factory in the Volta Region, and she stated that they will support the factory to be able to operate fully again.
There is no saying if Harriet Thompson or the UK government will be able to extract power of African print textiles from the hands of foreigners (more over neither has any party stated this is the objective), however a stronger Ghanaian production is always a positive change.
The Volta Star Textile Limited factory used to employ 2,000 workers, but that has seen a sharp decline as the currently employed people are 750.
Also on the radar of British aid is Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL) which would be featured and increased under the British Trade Portfolio.
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