The newly commissioned Northshore Apparel Ghana factory in Savelugu in the Northern Region has created 3,000 immediate jobs and is expected to employ 10,000 people when it reaches full operational capacity.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM), Sylvester Adinam Mensah, disclosed this at the commissioning ceremony on Friday, August 28. GEXIM is the sole funding source of the factory.

According to him, the employment figures demonstrate the scale of the facility’s potential contribution to industrial development and economic transformation in Northern Ghana.

“Phase One of this facility alone generates 3,000 immediate jobs upon commissioning. When the facility reaches full operational capacity, employment is projected to increase to 10,000 direct jobs,” he said.

“This is what transformative industrial investment looks like,” Mr Mensah added.

He said Northshore Apparel had already trained more than 2,000 prospective operators, equipping them with market-ready skills for permanent employment at the factory.

The facility comprises 50 sewing lines, a 4,000-square-metre cutting and design centre and 8,000 square metres of warehouses for raw materials and finished products.

It also has a 500-kilowatt peak solar power system, an on-site clinic and crèche, disability-friendly washrooms, a biodigester for waste management and a 600,000-litre underground mechanised water facility.

Mr Mensah said the factory’s employment impact would extend beyond its production floor by creating business opportunities in transportation, food services, accommodation, maintenance, packaging and logistics.

“As the factory grows, it will create direct employment on the production floor and generate additional opportunities in transportation, food services and other vending activities, accommodation, maintenance, packaging, logistics and other supporting activities,” he said.

He explained that wages earned by workers would support households, finance children’s education, improve access to healthcare and strengthen businesses within the local economy.

“Every young person trained and employed here represents a life given a new stream of life, a new direction,” he stated.

“That worker earns an income, supports a family and contributes to the local economy. The worker also pays taxes, contributes to social security and helps produce garments that can earn foreign exchange for Ghana.”

GEXIM partnered with the Investing for Employment facility of Germany’s KfW Development Bank and the project’s promoters to finance and operationalise the factory.

Mr Mensah said the investment reflected GEXIM’s mandate to support Ghanaian enterprises capable of expanding productive capacity, adding value, generating employment and competing in international markets.