By Benjamin Makafui Attipoe, Akatsi
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vol-Link Roofing System at Akatsi in the Volta Region, Mr Emmanuel Agbenu, has appealed to government to urgently activate its support package under the 24-hour economic policy for small scale manufacturing industries and companies particularly in the rural areas of the country.
According to him, such a gesture would not only sustain such industries and their investments to favourably complete with their foreign compatriots but also create job opportunities for the teeming youth of the country.
Speaking to our newsteam in an interview at Akatsi, Mr Agbenu noted that import duties on raw materials at the ports, coupled with delays in clearing such goods, are major militating factors against their businesses.
The Vol-Link Roofing System Company Limited was established in November, 2021, not only to fill the local industries gap in the southern sector of the Volta Region but also create job opportunities for the teeming youth of the Akatsi South Municipality as well as its sister districts and municipalities in the Volta Region and beyond.
The company produces roofing sheets of all sizes and shapes including the self-lock and the IBR. Management has so far invested some Ghc1.2 million to procure this state-of-the-art equipment and machinery for its operations. At full capacity, these machines can produce four (4) tones of roofing sheets within three (3) to four (4) hours in a day.
Vol-Link Roofing System is the only local roofing manufacturing industry along the eastern corridor between Dawenya and Aflao and one of the three (3) local manufacturing roofing sheets industries in the entire Volta Region. It has so far employed fifteen (15) permanent staff with about fifty-six (56) people as non-permanent employees.
As part of its corporate social responsibility to the artisan space, management through its workers has been providing capacity building training for carpenters in the area to enable them acquire the modern or advanced skills and knowledge in roofing buildings in recent times.
Vol-Link Roofing System, has, however, been facing dire challenges in its operations in the past four (4) years.
According to the CEO of the company, Mr Emmanuel Agbenu, the small capital base of the factory affects their ability to regularly clear raw materials from the ports for production. This, he noted is also worsened by monetary demands by some clearing agents which eventually impact negatively on the cost of their operations. ‘These delays at the ports also delay our production so our customers are sometimes also affected, a situation which should not arise at all in the first place’, the CEO lamented.
Mr Agbenu, also lamented about the high import duties on these raw materials which ultimately affect their prices and put them at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with their competitors.
Some workers of the company who spoke with our newsteam, also corroborated these challenges, and called for some tax rebates on electricity tariffs for such local industries.
The CEO is, therefore appealing to the Ministries of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Employment and Labour as well as Youth Development and Empowerment in addition to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi South and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor and all MPs in the southern sector in particular and the region as a whole to come to their aid as a matter of urgency under the government’s flagship programme of the 24-hour economy.
According to Mr Agbenu, such a support would go a long way not only to expand their business to create job opportunities in the area but also open up new and bigger market for their goods in neighbouring Togo and beyond. ‘Individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as well as all well-meaning Ghanaians and institutions across the country are equally welcome to support such a worthy course’, Mr Agbenu intimated.