The government has been asked to develop and implement a national communication strategy that will sell Ghana to attract both domestic and international talents, institutional partnerships, and capital.

That would better position the country to the rest of the world in a positive light, highlighting the growth potential, and gaining investor confidence to support the country’s economic recovery and resilience efforts.

Mr Alhassan Andani, Economist, and Ms Esther Amba Numaba Cobbah, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Strategic Communication (Stratcomm) Africa, have said.

They said this at the launch of the 30th anniversary of Stratcomm Africa and media soiree over the weekend in Accra.

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Andani, a former banker, who now is the CEO of LVSAfrica – an integrated business advisory firm, said, “Communication is what builds your brand, and attracts capital, talents, clients, and regulatory approval”.

He noted that the current situation of the country required that the government craft a story that highlighted Ghana’s enormous potential and sell it to the rest of the world while admitting the challenges.

“We’re not in a good place, but that’s not the end of the story; Ghana still is endowed with a lot of human capital, and natural resources, and we’re geopolitically positioned to be a beacon of democracy in West Africa and Africa at large,” Mr Andani said.

“The government must build a communication strategy to highlight this; acknowledge where we’ve made the mistakes, and then say that these mistakes can be corrected in a short time,” he said.

While acknowledging the work of the Ghana Investment Promotion Authority (GIPC) in that regard, he said, “GIPC is not building you a national image, but giving away significant value to get investors to come in.”

“The government must be intentional about building the right national brand that would make development finance institutions come into the country, not only to grant concessions, but recognise Ghana as a right partner with the laws and resources for profitable investment,”he said.

He charged the presidency to lead that communication effort, saying, “National branding should be at the executive level. We have the experts, and the government must bring them into a room to build a national communication strategy and brand, especially now.”

During a fireside chat at the event, Ms Cobbah, who is also the President of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) Ghana, said: “There can never be good governance without effective communication.”

She encouraged the government to get persons trained to work on the hearts and minds of people to lead the implementation of the national communication strategy to achieve the country’s development vision.

“Unless you have somebody who is able to work on the minds of people out there to buy into your vision, therefore, patronise your product and services, you’ll make a profit, but you’ll lose a lot more profit,” Ms Cobbah said.

She said Stratcomm Africa and IPR Ghana would work collaboratively, towards ensuring that people understood the value of communication and what it could do for the country in terms of development.