The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has commenced the 2022 Annual Export School programme in Kumasi to acquaint exporters with export marketing fundamentals and networking opportunities.

Participants of the five-day training would benefit from a range of courses, including elements of contracts and negotiations, international trade participation, packaging, labeling and branding.

The programme is in line with the implementation of the National Export Development strategy.

The GEPA export school consists of potential exporters, product associations, financial institutions, senior and middle-level managers of export-oriented firms and SMEs.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Authority, Albert Kassim Diwura, says the export school programme will facilitate the implementation of the National Export Development Strategy.

“It is not by chance that this strategy is put in place. This is the value we all put on export apart from the job creation sustainability, the value addition.

“We’ve also come to realise that if we embark on export, seriously, we are going to strengthen our economy and we are going to strengthen our cedi, and the rest would just be development,” he said.

The strategy thrives on three pillars of building the capacity of participants, providing an enabling environment, and expanding the supply chain.

“The first pillar is talking about the expansion of the supply chain, thus product expansion. Pillar two is talking about the enabling environment. We have standards and regulations on how we can facilitate export.

“Pillar three talks about capacity building. This has to do with expertise that the exporters should have before they can embark on the trading,” said Mr Diwura.

He encouraged the youth to take advantage of the opportunity to explore the export market.

“If you have completed school and you think that the government has a new job with export, you can create your jobs and even employ others.

“Standards and things keep changing, so if you don’t have the capacity of exporters to meet the changing demands, they may fall short along the line,” he added.

Assistant Commissioner of the Immigration Service, Constance Boateng, disclosed the readiness of the Service to assist exporters in their efforts.

“If you come to us, we will facilitate the process for you, how and what you need before you would qualify to get a Ghana passport.

“We are everywhere. We have migration information centres in almost all the regions. These are offices open all day to engage potential travelers. We are there to assist you,” he stated.

Entrepreneur and participant, Melvin Bankhead, who aims to export fruits to the US, expressed his eagerness to complete the workshop.

He believes the workshop would offer him the opportunity to be abreast with the fundamentals of exportation.

“I am currently trying to export Aidan fruit [Prekese] to the US. The fruit has a lot of benefits that I have done my research on. I aim to be able to bring what we have here to the western world.

“Being at this conference is to network and help bring what we have at home to the western world, and also to be able to overtake the market there. This is the first time being in the export industry. I would like to learn a lot because my background is in cyber-security and it is way different from what export and import are,” he said.