Stay away from politically exposed deals – Economist advises private business operators  

Economist, Dr. Priscilla Twumasi Baffour has advised private business operators to stay away from politically exposed deals that may make their entities a target after elections.

She cautioned private businesses to be careful of political favouritism that may put their operations in danger after their parties exit power.

According to her, Ghana’s political environment sometimes makes it difficult for businesses to outlive their founders, a situation that must guide entrepreneurs not to openly engage in political deals.

Dr. Baffuor spoke to Joy Business after a panel discussion on the 2024 KPMG Africa CEOs Outlook in Accra.

She pointed out that businesses engaging in open politics could encounter a negative consequences in the near future.

“I believe that we all know the kind of political environment we are in. Many businesses want to outlive the owners and be there for more years. So the advice is to stay away from contracts or activities that are highly political; otherwise, if the election doesn’t go in favour of the businesses, there will be a negative effect”.

She advised businesses to operate fairly and obey the laws of the country to avoid unnecessary political tagging.

Managing Country Partner at KPMG, Anthony Sarpong, urged the business community to navigate towards sustainable initiatives as many global supply chains continue to divert attention towards environmental governance.

“Many African CEOs from the outlook believe that investments into technology is the way to go to complement what staff are doing as part of their operations. I believe that more businesses should consider this, as technology is here to stay, along with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI). I will sum up all this to Environmental Social Governance, ESG,” he said.

The Chief Executive of GCB Bank, Kofi Adomakoh, used the platform to call for more education on environmental sustainability.

According to him, making more people aware of the shift in the global system will help deal with environmental issues.

About the programme

The CEOs Outlook is an annual report by KPMG which engages the global top business captains on economic trends and projections into the next few years.

KPMG Ghana this year assembled some key members of the business community to deliberate on critical findings in the report and discuss solutions ahead.

Some highlights in this year’s report include geopolitical tensions and their effect on businesses, as well as issues of environmental social governance (ESG), talent, and generative AI.

This year’s outlook featured interviews with over 130 CEOs from across Africa. Both African and global CEOs are placing more investment in new technology rather than up-skilling their workforce.

 At least 61% of the African CEOs agree with this, which is notably higher than 59% of the global CEOs.

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