A delegation from the National Investment Bank, (NIB), led by Dr. Doli-Wura Zakaria, the Managing Director (MD) paid a courtesy call on the Ag. Chief Executive and some Management Members.
GRIDCo already has a positive and active relationship with the NIB, which provides some financial services for staff. However, the MD, Dr. Zakaria explained that NIB is re-engaging ‘one-on-one’ with other SOEs to drive its strategy saying, “We are coming to add value and support. We already have a relationship, but we want to deepen it.” He shared that apart from its banking business, the NIB also has shareholdings in other enterprises such as, Nestle, CDH and Venture Capital among other entities.
Ag. Chief Executive, Ing. Baah indicated that the overview of the NIB is insightful, commending their efforts. He indicated to the NIB team that there are opportunities for collaboration in the energy/power sector. He explained, “GRIDCo has a lot of projects on its books but we have been unable to fund due to financing constraints.” Ing. Baah also pointed to GRIDCo’s Telecoms business as another area which presents opportunities.
On his part, the Director Finance at the time, Ing. Samuel Nkansah reiterated the cordial financial relationship with the NIB. To take the relationship to the next level, Ing. Nkansah suggested, “If you have innovative financial solutions, these can be win–win situations, where NIB provides funding for our short-term obligations.” Ing Nkansah reassured the NIB delegation of GRIDCo’s openness to a strong partnership with NIB.
The NIB MD, Dr. Zakaria stated that the bank is shifting focus, “The thinking of government in repositioning the bank is that we should move from ‘buying and selling’ if we want to move the relationship to where we could have better collaborations so, we would like the dividends to remain in Ghana.”