Foreign company in Ghana employs 510 Ghanaians and four non-Ghanaians

A foreign site services company operating in Ghana and other African countries has more Ghanaians working for it than it has foreigners, making the need for local content of foreign businesses a reality.

A report by the Mining Weekly citing information from the company, Allterrain Services (ATS) says the company has employed 510 Ghanaians and only four non-Ghanaians. This is a ratio of about 127 Ghanaians to one non-Ghanaian consultant, or 99,2% Ghanaian national employment.

The company currently has over 60% of the total 65 senior-manager- (SM-) grade employees from ATS countries of operation. The company’s goal is to increase this number to over 75% by 2012, the report said.

The report indicated that ATS has also signed a share option agreement in September 2009 to give share options to all SM-grade employees, either as an individual or as part of the SM-grade share club, increasing the probability of local ownership of ATS Ghana.

Through 2008 and 2009, ATS Ghana has been developing its pool of talent concept, not just for use by ATS Ghana but also by all other countries where ATS currently operates.

The ATS operation centre in Accra, Ghana, provides catering, facilities management and communications solutions to the mining, oil and gas and industrial sectors in ten African countries.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi