Ghana's 50th Anniversary Celebrations Re-Tell the Past and Ignite the Future
ACCRA and WASHINGTON, March 7, 2007 - Yesterday (March, 6) marked the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence from colonial rule. The Golden Jubilee brought together people from around the globe to celebrate and commemorate the nation's landmark achievement as the first country in Black Africa to attain its independence.
In the presence of a record crowd, including many international dignitaries, President John Agyekum Kufuor in his address, rallied the nation to set its sight higher and to approach the next 50 years with clarity of vision and sustained national steps. "Our destiny is with the most advanced in the human community and we must pursue it. The future of this Continent is yours, it is your heritage and you must stay and be part of building the well-governed, economically vibrant nations we all aspire to," stated President Kufuor.
A review of the past fifty years reveals that Ghana experienced many periods of uncertainty and difficulties, but today it has thrived into a nation with a steady and growing economy. Today, Ghana has a stable and improving financial system comprising of a stock exchange (more than 30 publicly-traded firms), a central bank, 15 commercial banks, 10 merchant banks, and 130 small town unit banks.
The World Bank has ranked Ghana as the first nation in Africa and the ninth in the world among economies that have implemented massive reforms to improve on the ease of doing business. According to the annual ranking results for 2005 tracked by A. T. Kearney, Ghana ranked 22 out of 40 countries as the most attractive location for offshoring of service activities.
Ghana has been filled with the happy atmosphere of festival since the beginning of the year. The Golden Jubilee celebrations began in January with many events and activities planned, centered on various themes for each month of the year-long celebration. In addition to the rehabilitation, restoration and development of core infrastructures, and the sanitization and sprucing up of the country, the celebrations comprise of re-enactments, exhibitions of photo and cultural artifacts, musical concerts, carnivals, parades, fashion shows, children's quiz shows, TV documentaries and films, fireworks, sporting events, and lectures and seminars.
Xalles Limited, a Washington D.C. based, global management consulting firm; local firms Ghana Cyber Group and Ghana Multimedia Incubator Center; as well as Microsoft and Cisco; are some of the many corporate sponsors who are supporting various activities and projects for the Golden Jubilee celebrations and the future development of the nation. As part of the celebrations agenda, the companies will collaboratively host an informative seminar to local and global Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies to help prepare them for growth in international markets.
On Wednesday, March 14, Mr. Thomas Nash, Chairman and CEO of Xalles Limited will present the seminar entitled, International IT and BPO Marketing, that is meant to arm companies with practical tools and information needed to prepare them for international expansion and new markets. The seminar will include topics of: culture and language, business management, financial readiness, product development and packaging, international marketing, distribution, pricing, and international business intelligence. This full day seminar, provided at no cost to registered participants, will include one-on-one business coaching sessions as well as a facilitated workshop session for participants to begin crafting a strategy suited to their company and situation, that will direct their actions in areas of effort that might not have been thought of before to be critical for successful international marketing. For more information on the event and to register please click here .
Ghana is already on its way to becoming the newest business destination. For the first time in nearly forty years, Ghana will once again play host to the Summit of the African Union in mid-2007. The Summit is expected to be attended by all fifty three Heads of State of the member countries. Ghana will also host CAN 2008 and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Conference later in 2008.
Future business development plans for the nation also include a Technology Park that will be opening soon in the city of Accra. The Ghana Technology Park will make available infrastructure facilities to growing technology firms, both domestic and foreign, to provide business process outsourcing, call centers and other products for IT markets in the United States, Africa and other emerging economies.
For more information and for a schedule of events and activities for the Golden Jubilee celebrations please visit: www.ghana50.gov.gh .
- 30 -About Xalles Limited
As an innovative, international management consulting firm, Xalles Limited provides business strategy and systems implementation services to firms in the supply chain, financial ser vices and information technology industries around the world. Xalles Limited has offices in the U.S, Canada and Ireland and has a mobile group of personnel in 9 countries across 5 continents. Our personnel communicate in 11 languages and have experience in implementing systems to over 18,000 people. For more information about Xalles Limited, please visit our web site at www.Xalles.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Darlene B. Alvar
Manager, Marketing and Communications
Xalles Limited
Email: dbalvar@Xalles.com
Tel: + 1 202-595-1299Direct Tel: +39 040 307668