Mr AK Mirchandani, Chairman of Avnash Industries Ghana Limited, has been honoured with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the sixth edition of the Made in Ghana Awards held in Accra.
The award was in recognition of his strong entrepreneurial acumen and sustained belief in the Ghanaian economy, a passion that led to the creation of three leading agro-processing businesses for close to two decades, making it the most formidable Agro processing company in the country.
Mr Mirchandani has invested about a hundred million dollars in three industries in the agricultural sector, specifically in the processing of rice, oil and soap, and created thousands of employment opportunities across the various value chains.
Royal Farmers’ Rice, a product of Avnash Industries Ghana Limited was adjudged the “Best Quality Agro Food Product of the Year”, due to the quality of its processing, superior world class packaging and efforts by the company to market and distribute the wholly made in Ghana rice brand.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency , Mr Mirchandani said “I think it is a great thing to have; obviously I’m a fortunate person. I must also encourage the organizers of this awards that seeks to encourage people. I think it is right for people to be encouraged.”
He commended the government on its flagship agricultural initiative “Planting for Food and Jobs”, which he said would ensure self-sufficiency while encouraging the public sector to spearhead the consumption of locally made products.
He indicated that the success of the programme would depend on government’s ability to provide the right incentives for farmers and ensure that such incentives reached them.
“My belief is that industry is the future; and if government can further help by providing the enabling environment for industries to grow, prosperity will come to the people. This could be done by ensuring that producers of industrial raw material, specifically farmers are motivated to increase their production,” he noted.
The industrialist urged government and public sector institutions to spearhead the consumption of local products and services to curb the over reliance on the importation of similar items onto the Ghanaian market.
“With rice for instance, this year we bought 20,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice from farmers valued at over GH¢25 Million, if every agency should decide to buy Ghana rice, then we are willing to procure 100,000 tonnes, and the more we produce, the more the price will come down. The farmers will also expand their production and more people will be employed. We need such support from the government to grow.”
Avnash has become a fast-growing brand, premising its rise on key investments in refining of palm oil, soap manufacturing and rice processing.
He said the success of the company was hinged on its vast local knowledge, long-standing experience in the manufacturing industry and network of partners all of which empowered it to process quality raw materials into valuable finished goods for top consumer satisfaction.
The company’s rice mill located at Nyankpala is a state-of-the art facility with the capacity to process 500metric tonnes of paddy rice per day and equipped with a parboiling unit to convert low moisture paddy to the healthy and nutritious parboiled rice.
It is the first of its kind in the country to operate an environmentally friendly boiler unit powered by the waste products of the milling process.
Avnash’s also boasts of a 500metric tonnes capacity edible oil refinery in the Tema industrial enclave that produces the Golden Drop and Lafia cooking oil brands; and a 100metric tonnes capacity soap saponification plant that produces the Oly laundry and bathing and medicated soaps.
