HE Sister Stephanie Oforka, Minister of Commerce, Loveworld Inc and Convener of the Loveworld Trade and Investment Forum (LTIF), has called for stronger investment, improved standards, increased production capacity and greater access to capital to help African businesses move from local success to regional and global markets.
Speaking on the topic ‘Building the Future through Production, Trade, Trust and Innovation’ in Accra, Sister Oforka said the forum was more than an exhibition, describing it as a statement of confidence in Africa’s capacity to consume, create, manufacture and deliver value.
She said a key responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce was to help businesses scale by connecting them to new markets and creating structures that would allow products made in one African country to be confidently used, financed and distributed in another.
According to her, trust was central to achieving this objective because commerce depended on confidence among businesses, investors, partners and consumers.
“Capital moves where there is trust, trade expands where there is trust, partnerships endure where there is trust, and customers return where there is trust,” she said.
Sister Oforka stressed that profitability should not come at the expense of integrity, arguing that competency and integrity could coexist and that businesses could create wealth while delivering value to society.
She said the forum was anchored on innovation, but cautioned that innovation must go beyond being a concept and should solve practical problems, increase productivity, reduce costs and time, improve access and create industries.
She also called for greater development of African-built solutions, saying the continent needed to move from simply consuming innovation to becoming a creator of technologies and products for Africa and the wider world.
On financing, Sister Oforka said production required capital and challenged investors and businesses to strengthen the relationship between capital and productive enterprises.
“We cannot continue to build the businesses we want to see while capital elsewhere passively,” she said, stressing the need for stronger connections between African capital and African enterprises.
She urged businesses to become investment-ready by putting the necessary structures in place to attract capital, while encouraging those with capital to develop the confidence to finance productive ideas.
Sister Oforka further challenged participants at the LTIF to use the platform to establish tangible business relationships rather than merely attend sessions.
She urged them to find suppliers, markets, investors and investment opportunities, identify technologies, explore partnerships, negotiate deals and open new territories for their businesses.
“The desired outcome is not simply that everyone will stay attending the local trade investment conference. We want businesses funded, we want investment flowing, we want new markets opened, we want partnerships established,” she said.
She also called for investment commitments, stronger trade relationships and the transformation of ideas into enterprises and enterprises into companies.
Sister Oforka said Africa should develop its own economic possibilities rather than always waiting for external platforms to define the questions and direction of its development.
She presented the forum as an opportunity to demonstrate what she described as a kingdom economic model based on production, trade, investment, collaboration and shared prosperity.
She challenged participants to take responsibility for building the future they desired, saying progress would require individuals to establish factories, start businesses, finance ideas, improve products, set standards, enter new markets, begin exporting, develop technologies and train the next generation.
“Africa’s future will not be built by those who merely recognise potential; it will be built by those who convert that potential into production,” she said.
She subsequently welcomed participants to the Loveworld Trade and Investment Forum on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce, Loveworld Inc.
