Ghana Woos African-American Business Community

GEXIM chair links shared history to practical partnership in Cincinnati

Ghana’s pitch to American investors in Cincinnati came with a powerful historical appeal to the African-American business community, as GEXIM Governing Board Chairman Dr Joseph Nyarkotei Dorh linked the transatlantic slave trade to a new era of commercial partnership.

“For many African Americans, the relationship with Ghana begins with history,” Dr Dorh told the Africa America Trade & Investment Summit 2026. “On our coast stand the castles through which millions passed on a journey they never chose. Their descendants have been coming back ever since. That bond is sacred.”

But, he added, that bond “can grow into something practical and lasting: businesses owned together, products made together, and prosperity created on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Dr Dorh noted that Cincinnati itself built its fortune on trade along the Ohio River. “It learned long ago that goods must move before wealth can follow. That makes it a natural partner for Africa.”

The GEXIM chairman said Ghana was not asking for charity. “We are not seeking sympathy. We are presenting an investment case,” he said. He invited African-American entrepreneurs to use GEXIM’s financing and risk-sharing tools to build export-oriented businesses in Ghana.

In his closing remarks, Dr Dorh returned to the historical theme. “The ships that once carried our people away from Africa carried them without their consent,” he said. “Let the ships of this century carry our products, our ambition and our shared prosperity — by choice, and in both directions.”

To the African-American business community, he added: “Our history gives us a reason to meet. Let the quality of the businesses we build together give us a reason to stay.”