This is how vision and strategic planning transformed Aberdeen, a once ‘sleepy’ fishing town into the oil capital of Europe and made many local entrepreneurs who actively participated in the value chain wealthy as well as create massive trickle down effects on the local economy by way of jobs created in the supply chain.
For example, Wood Group which started as a fishing company has evolved into a major supplier of services not only to the North Sea industry but across the globe. It now has 43,000 employees and operates in 50 countries. Ghana’s oil industry should be a blessing and not a curse. Others have done it, why not us? Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Angola needn’t be our benchmark. The new generation of African producers like Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique can reverse the trend where little of petroleum rents are invested back into the economy.