Eight garment enterprises receive ILO Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work certification

Eight enterprises in the garments industry in Ghana have been certified by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) after successfully going through the Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work programme.

The certificates were given to the enterprises at an event held in Accra on Tuesday, April 22.

The companies include Sixteen47 Ghana Ltd, Sleek Garments Exports Ltd, Alfie Designs, Charisma Fashions, Damaris Garments Ltd, House of Abena Ltd, Gem Afrique Creations Ltd, and Kad Manufacturing Ltd.

Speaking at the event, the project officer of the Productivity Ecosystems for decent work, Samuel Asiedu Onuma assured the enterprises that there will be continued engagements from ILO to provide additional support for them.

He urged the enterprises to take the lessons from the Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work programme seriously, stressing that it will strengthen the enterprises with best practices to continuously improve production and grow.

Mr. Onuma also admonished the enterprises to be data-driven to find solutions to the problems holding them back.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the certification, the Project Manager of the Productivity Ecosystems for decent work programme, David Marcos congratulated the enterprises for going through the programme.

He noted that it is clear employers and their workers are already benefiting hugely from the programme which is leading to increasing productivity and will culminate into higher salaries.

He said the ILO acknowledges that access to finance is a challenge for enterprises but believes helping them to increase productivity is a crucial step towards addressing that problem.

“We know that access to finance is a problem, not just in this sector and not just in Ghana but we believe that the precondition to access the international market and to access finance is to get the production right to have quality products that can gain international market and this is what we are working on now. We are working to make sure these factories deliver quality production,” Mr. David Marcos said.

Sharing how the Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work programme has been helpful, Hallo William, Compliance Manager for Sixteen47 Ghana Ltd said it has led to significant improvement in their work.

He said through the programme, the enterprise can track its electricity and water consumption every month and has been able to identify and deal with unnecessary losses.

Just like most of the benefiting enterprises, Sixteen47 Ghana Ltd through its compliance manager appealed to ILO to extend the programme to other enterprises.

“Extend it for us because it is very helpful. We need modern machines and we plead with you to come to our aid,” Hallo William said.

On her part, the National President of the Association of Ghana Apparel Manufacturers (AGAM), Ms. Nura Salifu expressed appreciation to ILO on behalf of its members who benefited from the Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work programme.

She said because of the programme, they participated in a trade show in Las Vegas as part of efforts to access the US Market to export products.

She said the Ghanaian garments industry understands what it requires to be competitive in the international market and is ready to meet that demand through exports to help strengthen the Ghanaian economy.

The ILO Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work is a multi-country programme initiated by the ILO in 2021, with operations in Ghana, South Africa and Vietnam. It is funded by the governments of Switzerland and Norway and seeks to promote productivity growth for decent work.