Ghana’s Vice-President Urges Chinese Investors to Build More Factories and Create Jobs

According to a report by GhanaWeb on Monday, October 19, 2026. Vice-President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has called on Chinese investors to establish more factories in Ghana, stressing that increased local processing of raw materials is essential to creating jobs for young people and strengthening the economy.

Speaking to Chinese business executives in Shanghai, the Vice-President said Ghana had invested in educating and training young people through technical institutions and universities. However, she noted that the country needed more industries to provide employment opportunities and enable graduates to apply their skills.

She explained that Ghana could achieve greater economic benefits by moving beyond the export of raw materials to manufacturing finished and semi-finished products locally.

“What would lift us from the export of only raw materials to developing them is the human resource we have developed that will make that possible,” she stated.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang identified shea butter and cocoa processing as important areas in which Chinese investors could explore business opportunities. She encouraged investors to consider the different products that could be developed from Ghana’s agricultural resources.

On shea, she highlighted opportunities across the value chain, from collecting nuts to processing them into products for local consumption and export.

“From the collection of the nuts to all the ways of processing them to exports,” she said, describing the sector as an area with potential for investment and employment creation.

The Vice-President also urged investors to expand their interest in cocoa beyond chocolate production. While acknowledging the importance of chocolate manufacturing, she encouraged the development of other cocoa-based products, including cocoa wine.

She said Ghana’s continued dependence on exporting raw commodities had generated some employment but had not created enough jobs or sufficiently diversified the labour market.

“That has created some jobs, but never enough, and that has also not diversified the job market,” she noted.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang further called for stronger knowledge-sharing and cooperation between Ghana and China. She said such partnerships could help Ghana improve its industrial capacity, adopt relevant technologies and make better use of the skills of its workforce.

She also acknowledged China’s progress in addressing poverty and hunger, noting that Ghana could learn from experiences that support industrial development and economic transformation.

The Vice-President maintained that Ghana remained open to business and encouraged Chinese companies to consider investment opportunities that would support local manufacturing and job creation.

Her appeal forms part of Ghana’s broader efforts to increase value addition, reduce dependence on unprocessed exports and expand employment opportunities for its growing workforce.

By encouraging investment in factories and processing facilities, the government hopes to strengthen local industries, diversify exports and ensure that a greater share of the economic value generated from Ghana’s natural resources remains in the country.

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