The Chamber of Commerce and Industry France Ghana (CCIFG) opened its 2026 business calendar on Thursday, 5 February, with its annual New Year Cocktail at the Cantonments City Green Park in Accra, gathering members, prospective partners, and corporate sponsors for the first major networking event of the year under a newly elected board.
The evening, which began at 6:00 PM, served as the first formal public occasion for newly elected CCIFG Board President Guillaume Valence to address the membership since his December 2025 election. Joining him on the board are Vice-President Adedamola Adelabu and Treasurer Catherine Johnson. The relaxed outdoor setting at Cantonments City Green Park drew a mix of existing members and first-time attendees, reflecting the chamber’s deliberate effort to widen its membership base as it enters a new programme cycle.
Managing Director Maxine Reindorf-Partey set the tone in her opening remarks, describing 2025 as a year of reflection and progress in a dynamic economic environment, and committing the chamber to a more commercially driven agenda in 2026. She announced plans for increased economic-themed events, sector-focused forums, and enhanced membership packages tailored to both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and multinationals operating in the Ghana-France business corridor.
President Valence used his inaugural welcome address to signal a shift in how the chamber would measure its own success. He announced the creation of two new internal sub-committees, one focused on Member Value and the other on Governance, as structural tools to ensure the CCIFG directs its resources toward outcomes that members can tangibly feel. His guiding question for the three-year mandate, which he posed directly to the audience, was what value members are getting for their annual subscription fees. He described that question as the compass for every decision his board will make.
Beyond governance reform, Valence emphasised that the CCIFG’s identity rests on its human dimension as much as its institutional role, telling members that the chamber is ultimately about people working together and doing business with people.
The event was sponsored by GoldKey Properties, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, and IMEXCO Ghana. The CCIFG, established in Accra in May 2014, is a member of the CCI France International network of 125 French Chambers of Commerce and Industry in 95 countries, and is dedicated to supporting the business development of French and Ghanaian companies by facilitating trade and financial exchanges between the two countries.
