Features
Promoting Ghanaian food for the Finnish/European market
In my last writeup, I discussed how I heard that one could buy the typical Ghanaian Asaanaa drink from a food shop in Finland.
I mentioned how a Ghana “big brother” of mine had bought the Asaanaa drink and told me about it.
I decided to share information about it and to help encourage ideas about food and business/investment opportunities for entrepreneurs and other business-minded people. And today, I continue with this kind of endeavour.
Palmwine and ‘Asaanaa;’ drinks in Finland
My further chats with some Ghanaians in Finland revealed that one could also buy bottled palm-wine (nsaafuo/nsafufuo) from an “African” shop here in Helsinki owned by a Nigerian. I know palm-wine is also popular among Nigerians and I understand they call it “Palmi”. I think the bottled palm-wine drink is imported from Ghana.
This means that it is not only Asaanaa that has found its way into the Finnish market, but also the bottled palm-wine had already been in the shop.
As I said the last time, my interest in all these Ghanaian foods is how Ghanaian Diaspora companies and Ghanaian immigrants in Finland generally could make a business in more Ghanaian food products for the Finnish/European market.
Other potential Ghanaian products
I have already said in my last post that some Ghanaian shea butter body lotion products are making quite an impact in the Finnish market.
I have also sometimes seen pineapples from Ghana in some Finnish grocery shops. Yams and plantains can also be found in almost all African-Asian shops.
I have just remembered that some Ghanaian friends told me some time ago that one could also buy from some Asian-African shops here cow-skin (what we call in Ghana as “coat” or kawuro) as well as stinking fish that looks and almost tastes like our own Ghanaian “opaa momone”. I think these packaged products are imported from Asian countries.
So, my point is that we should think of promoting Ghanaian food products. As someone on a Ghanaian social media platform I belong to rhetorically asked, who says one cannot pack Ghana products like neem tree and prekese for the European market?
As I wrote the last time, other potential products that could attract Finnish and other European markets are our own alata samina (soap), sobolo drink or the flower/hibiscus for making the drink, prekese, kokonte/cassava flour, and many more.
I am sure there would be a big patronage for such Ghanaian products as Ghanaian food is popular among Ghanaians here. Moreover, many Finnish people love African food. Whenever Ghanaian groups participate in food fairs here, many people patronise the jollof rice, “red-red” (fried riped plantain and beans stew), waakye, and ginger drink.
Collaboration
Again, all that is needed is for Ghanaian Diaspora companies and entrepreneurs to find the right kind of collaboration within the community or with Finnish/European companies.
So, over to you those with business minds to take this up.
As I have written here before, the attention of Finnish authorities and business leaders on Ghana and Ghanaian products for business and investment is high.
The COVID-19 situation may have slowed things down but life goes on and so must business thrive, especially so with border restrictions that were imposed in the thick of the pandemic gradually being eased now.
Growing Ghanaian diaspora communities
The Ghanaian diaspora in Finland has been growing as in other places in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
There are more than 1,600 Ghanaian immigrants living in Finland and possibly well over 10,000 in all Scandinavian countries. I am sure Ghanaian products will always find a good market.
The Ghanaian products for the Finnish market and in other European countries will also allow Ghanaian immigrants to have access to their “home country food”, as one of my friends puts it.
There are many Ghanaian immigrant families in which the children very much enjoy “Ghanaian food” when they can have it, even though they have been born here in Finland and have never been to Ghana.
Like I said the last time, that is how most of us living abroad make use of the two worlds we find ourselves in. Thank you.
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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