By Frederick ASIAMAH
Investment banking and financial advisory firm, Crystal Capital & Investments Ltd., has called for a re-organisation of Ghana’s financial system to catalyse the transformation of the country’s economic.
Martin Ofori, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Crystal Capital, posits that it is time for the country to examine capital market and investment banking as options for moving the economy forward.
Consequently, he has called for “a more comprehensive Financial Sector Strategy and an effective Implementation Model on creating long-term investment vehicles to propel economic growth.”
He was speaking before the weekend at a fraternization session with journalists held at the offices of the firm in Accra.
“My challenge today is that we have to look at financial inter-relations,” Ofori indicated.
“Right now, the government has come out with a stimulus budget, indicating their focus on increased production and industrialization in various sectors,” he observed but quizzed: “How can the financial system support this?”
He asserted that the financial system as it is now, we believe at this stage that this status quo cannot drive this transformational agenda. And if nothing is done about it, all that we would see is that people from offshore would drive in” and invest anyhow.
“As I speak, if you go to Takoradi township, almost half of that town has been bought by foreigners, mostly from regional countries. The sad news about this is that whatever the people who brought the monies do to bring the money, we can do it here,” the CEO bemoaned.
Therefore, “Let us consider what we can do about the other aspects of the banking sector – capital market and investment banking, which I consider to be the next big thing because without that we cannot achieve the milestone that we require.
“We cannot get the requisite investment spending to create the necessary inter-relations.”
He then declared: “We of crystal capital are saying that the next big thing is here!” pointing to the firm’s ingenuity which has resulted in two new products – the eFund and W-Fund – which it has introduced to the market in the last two weeks.
“We have the skill and the space within the banking and investment market space to create the necessary financial arrangements,” he stated with pride.
The Crystal Entrepreneur Fund (eFund) is a portfolio that mobs up funds of would-be entrepreneurs and invests them into a diversified portfolio that assures of superior returns in the short term.
The Crystal Wealth Fund (W-Fund), on the other hand, is an investment account that protects and grows one’s principal and at the same time gives them income whenever they want.
