The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, on Friday, April 10, 2015, paid a visit to the country’s premier FMCG company, Unilever-Ghana, in Tema to acquaint himself with the operations of the company.

He was received and conducted round the facility by top officials of the company, including the Vice President of Unilever West Africa, Mr. Luc-Olivier Marquet, Managing Director of Unilever Ghana, Ms. Maidie Arkutu, Human Resource Director of Unilever West Africa, Mr. Stendert Krommendam, Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Gabriel Opoku-Asare and Factory Manager, Mr. Joseph Amuna.

Speaking on the visit, Ms. Maidie Arkutu said “Unilever is on a mission to make sustainable living a commonplace. We want to continue to provide brands that meet the needs of our consumers with an increased sense of responsibility of how our brands and operations impact the communities where we operate and the consumers that we serve”.

“While our focus is on serving our consumers, we are also mindful of the thousands of livelihoods we contribute to, through our direct and extended supply chain. In our vast ecosystem of suppliers, distributors and sales, we support the livelihoods of over 50,000 people in Ghana”, she added.

For his part, Dr. Spio-Garbrah said with over fifty years of experience in consumer goods manufacturing and trading, Unilever has built iconic brands like Key Soap, which are considered as the reference products in its categories.

He added that, through the African Business Centre for Developing Education (ABCDE) initiative which is aimed at providing students with the requisite industry knowledge, reputable organisations like Unilever can partner government and academia to bridge the knowledge gap that makes many graduates unemployable.

He also shared light on the activities of the Made-In-Ghana Committee and the upcoming launch of a new Made-In-Ghana logo which will serve as a unique marketing tool for locally manufactured products.

The tour afforded the Minster an opportunity to experience at first hand, how consumer favourite brands like Lux and Lipton are manufactured, whilst offering glimpses into issues ranging from quality assurance to sustainability.

He was accompanied by senior officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and members of the Made-in-Ghana Committee.