The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Engineers and Planners, Ibrahim Mahama, has paid $2m to the Black Stars fundraising account, a partial fulfilment of a $5m pledge he made to the Fundraising Committee during its launch on March 20 this year.

Though the money has already been paid into the account, a symbolic presentation of a cheque was made to the Deputy Finance Minister, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, at the Ministry of Finance on Thursday, April 30, 2026.

The latest contributions, alongside others redeemed on the day, brought the total amount received at the press briefing to approximately GHC 27,393,000, in support of Ghana’s participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This follows an earlier contribution of GHC 9.54 million received two weeks ago from six corporate entities: KGL Group, Serene Insurance, Juwel Energy, Icon Energy, Erata Motors, and Pay Angel; as well as an individual donor, Alex Okyere.

Welcoming donors at the briefing, Mr Ampem said:

“I welcome you to the Ministry of Finance to receive donations in support of the participation of our Black Stars in this year's World Cup competition, and Ghanaians have been responding.

“Today, we are privileged to have our lead sponsor here, Engineers and Planners who, on the day of the launch, pledged to support us with 5 million United States dollars.

“I’m happy to say that today they are here to redeem part of the pledge of two million dollars. They have already paid the money into the account, but we are going to do the symbolic presentation.

“Apart from Engineers and Planners giving us two million dollars, others have also either redeemed their pledge or donated to support the Black Stars. We have First Bank, giving us GHC 553,500. We have GT Bank, GHC 2,236,000.

“First Atlantic, GHC 1,102,000. Timeline and Innovations, 1 million Ghana cedis. And Petroleum Commission, GHC 500,000. So, on behalf of the Black Stars and on behalf of all Ghanaians, we say a very big thank you to these institutions and individuals who have seen the need to support our Black Stars to go and fly high the flag of the Republic of Ghana.”

Mr Mahama, whose company is the lead sponsor, said the contribution reflects a broader national responsibility.

“We promised to contribute to the Black Stars. As to the Black Stars, contributing to the Black Stars means that you’re contributing to everybody, which will touch everybody. The amount, I was going to refer to you that you’re collecting cedis from others and you’re collecting dollars from us.

“But anyway, we’re the senior citizens of this country, so it is actually imperative for us to even pay much more than friends in the business community.

“This is to say that we’re committed to Ghana. We just did our first gold pour, and we sold it to the Bank of Ghana, which we are very proud of, to say that this was what our intentions were, to be able to support the country.

“So what I would say is this is just the beginning of a deposit to come. Whilst time goes by, we would also make sure that we redeem ourselves on the balance that we promised you.

“But to this, we would also say that our workers who contribute to help us to contribute to you would also want a place in there to be able to be recognised that their hard-earned work really contributed to the Black Stars.”

Also speaking at the briefing, Head of Monitoring for Timeline and Innovation, Pastor Dr Felix Osomboafo, said their organisation had begun redeeming its pledge.

“I think we were at the launch [of the World Cup Fundraising Campaign] and the ambience and everything was very beautiful, and we were fortunate my boss was also there and we committed to this clarion call to support the Black Stars and we made a pledge of $300,000; we have redeemed part of it.

“We want to tell everyone that we are here to support the cause of the Black Stars so that they can bring the glory back.”

Mr Ampem used the occasion to urge more contributors to honour and exceed their pledges.

“I want to urge institutions, companies, and individuals who pledged to redeem the pledges. If you pledged five million, it doesn’t mean if you are willing to give us more than five million, we won’t take it.

“So even though you made pledges, there is still opportunity to up your pledges and pay more to support our Black Stars. May God bless all of you.

“May God bless your businesses so that you’ll be able to support more worthy causes in the interests of Mother Ghana.”