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Tamale, Ghana – One of Ghana’s most prominent business moguls and philanthropists, Dr. Daniel Mckorley, has promised huge investments in a few areas of the country’s economy and hope by that gesture, his vision of seeing many young people becoming economically empowered through jobs and wealth creation as well as education would be realised.
The Executive Chairman and Chief Executive of the McDan Group of Companies observed that there were many opportunities for investments that could lead to the eradication of poverty among the growing young population, citing agriculture, sports and education as some of the areas he wanted to invest in as part of the McDan Group’s corporate social responsibilities.
“My ultimate goal as a businessman is to help government reduce the unemployment rate in our country which continues to deepen the levels of poverty particularly in Northern Ghana. And so my companies would do all it takes to employ the teeming youth in agriculture and other areas that can generate quick returns”, Dr. Mckorley said these during his three-day tour of the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana from March 4 to March 6 2019.
The McDan Group has many subsidiaries in sectors such as aviation, shipping and freight forwarding, logistics and warehousing, real estate and construction, sports, security and water processing among others.
The largest of all the companies is the McDan Shipping Company which was established in 1999 and has a presence in over 2000 major air and sea ports worldwide due to partnership with Universal Freight Organisation, Cross Trades and World Cargo Alliance.
He is one of Ghana’s richest businessmen and though he would not say exactly how much he is worth, in a recently interview with Multimedia’s Kojo Yankson, he said was very close to becoming a billionnaire and he hoped to have more millionnaires around him when he eventually becomes a billionnaire.
During a courtesy call on the Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed, following his arrival on Monday to begin his tour, Dr. Mckorley urged government to do everything it could to empower the youth of the Northern Region to be productive.
“We will take the youth out of the street and give them jobs. I am a Chief in the Northern Region and I must support my people especially the youth to succeed in life. I have personally taken up the challenge to help alleviate the plight of young graduates through the establishment of the McDan Entrepreneurship Challenge which will give young people who have creative ideas some start up capital.”
Education
Known as Gubga-Na in the Dagbon Kingdom, a traditional title which was bestowed on him by the late Naa Dakpema Mohammed Alhassan Dawuni of Tamale in honour for his personal contribution towards promoting access to education as well as youth empowerment, Dr. McKorley assured Mr. Saeed that the McDan Foundation and its associated subsidiaries would eliminate all schools under trees in the area by building new classroom blocks.
He acknowledged the difficulty many children had to go through in order to have access to education especially those who lived far away from the schools they attend. “We’re planning in line with this drive to build a modern school in honour of the Yaa-Naa Abukari Mahama II at a location of his choice. When we’re ready we would come and break the ground for work to start”, he promised.
He noted that investment in education would gradually but certainly lead to the development of the minds of many Ghanaian children as well as their skills so that they could find something productive to do in order to earn a good living and also provide for their families and communities.
Agriculture
Ghana imports US$99.5 million worth of tomatoes every year from Burkina Faso.
Accordingly, the country loses CFA56 billion, approximately US$99.5 million to Burkina Faso through the importation of fresh tomatoes annually, Eric Osei Tuffuor, the Chairman, Ghana National Tomatoes Traders and Transporters Association disclosed this to the media in 2018.
But Dr. Mckorely said this phenomenon was unacceptable especially as Ghana has favourable weather conditions compared to Burkina Faso which was reeling under the effects of climate change and desertification challenges.
In view of this, he said the McDan Group was starting the cultivation of 5000 acres of tomatoes in the Northern Region and hoped in few years time, the Ghanaian tomatoes traders would see no need to travel to the Sahelian country to import tomatoes into Ghana.
“This initiative would be replicated in other parts of Northern Ghana to feed the nation and for export. We are taking agriculture to the next level. About 400 to 500 women would be engaged on the farmlands our farms as labourers.”
Sports
Turning his attention to sports, another area of his interest, he re-echoed the intention of McDan Group to export young boxing talents to New York and other parts of the United States of America for international tournaments.
In line with this, the McDan Amateur Boxing Championship series he said would be another avenue to create the opportunity for the teeming energetic youth in Northern Ghana to also launch careers in professional boxing.
At the launch of this initiative in November 2018 at the Tamale Jubilee Park, about 3,500 people attended, sparking great excitement ahead of the main event today March 6th at the same venue.
According to Dr. Mckorley, the boxing championship series is going to be a regular feature every year on the group’s calender when young talents would be recruited and trained for international bouts.
Gubga-Na Dr. Daniel Mckorley would leave Tamale the Northern Regional capital with his wife and team of staff on Thursday morning for Accra. He is expected to return to region a couple months time actualise all his investment plans for the chiefs and people.
By Savannahnewsonline.com/Philip Liebs
