By Murtala Issah
For decades, Savelugu has been widely recognised as one of the major points of origin for young women who migrate south to work as head porters, popularly known as kayayei, in the crowded markets and transport hubs of Accra and Kumasi. The migration, driven largely by limited employment opportunities at home, has long exposed many young people to harsh working conditions, economic vulnerability, and social risks.
Today, however, a quiet but significant transformation is underway.
At the centre of this shift is Northshore Apparel GH Limited, a large-scale garment manufacturing facility redefining the local economic landscape by creating jobs, building skills, and restoring hope for young men and women who previously saw migration as their only path to survival.
Turning a Migration Hub into a Production Hub
Northern Ghana has historically experienced seasonal and long-term migration due to constrained formal employment. Many youth, particularly women, left farming communities in search of daily income in southern cities, often working in the informal sector with little protection or stability.
The establishment of the garment factory in Savelugu represents a deliberate attempt to reverse this trend, bringing industrial jobs directly to the communities that once supplied labour to distant urban markets.
During a recent tour of the nearly completed facility, the Minister for Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, emphasised that the garment sector offers a uniquely inclusive entry point into industrial employment.
She noted that, unlike many professions, apparel manufacturing does not require advanced academic qualifications, making it accessible to young people from diverse educational backgrounds.
“This industry allows people to learn practical skills, earn incomes, and build careers,” she said, describing the sector as a powerful vehicle for broad-based job creation.
The facility specialises in both knitted and woven garments, including T-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies, children’s wear, sportswear, underwear, leggings, and trousers, targeted at international markets. By integrating the Northern Region into global apparel value chains, the initiative is repositioning the area from a labour-exporting zone into a competitive production centre.
But beyond manufacturing output, the company has prioritised workforce development.
Employees undergo structured training in:
- Industrial sewing and garment assembly
- Fabric cutting and finishing techniques
- Quality assurance and compliance standards
- Machine operation and maintenance
- Production supervision and workflow management
This approach ensures workers gain transferable technical skills that can sustain long-term careers in manufacturing and related industries.
Many recruits are first-time formal sector employees, but within months they transition from trainees to skilled operators capable of meeting international production standards, a shift that is redefining perceptions of industrial work among local youth.
Phase One of the project, now over 95 per cent complete, reflects a worker-centred design rarely seen in emerging industrial enclaves. The facility includes 150 sewing lines, a 4,000-square-metre cutting and design centre, warehouses, a fabric library, and a laboratory for product development.
Equally notable are the social amenities integrated into the factory environment:
- An on-site clinic to support worker health
- A crèche to assist working mothers
- Dining facilities and locker rooms
The company has also installed solar energy systems to power operations sustainably, a bio-digester to manage waste responsibly, as well as a centralised training and administrative space.
These features underscore a philosophy that productivity and worker welfare are mutually reinforcing, not competing priorities.
The project is backed by a blended financing arrangement combining development finance and private investment, with key institutional support from Ghana Export-Import Bank and KfW Development Bank through its Investing for Employment programme.
This model mobilises mission-aligned capital to reduce investment risk in underserved regions while accelerating export-oriented industrialisation.
Stakeholders say such partnerships demonstrate how coordinated public and private sector efforts can catalyse manufacturing growth in areas historically left out of Ghana’s industrial expansion.
Northshore Apparel’s operations align closely with several global development priorities:
i. Creating decent work and stable incomes for youth
ii. Expanding industrial infrastructure in northern Ghana
iii. Promoting gender inclusion through accessible employment for women
iv. Reducing inequality by decentralising economic opportunity
v. Integrating renewable energy and environmentally responsible production
By embedding sustainability, from solar power to eco-conscious waste systems, the company is positioning itself within the growing global demand for ethically produced garments.
Development experts have long identified garment manufacturing as a gateway industry for emerging economies because of its scalability and ability to absorb large labour forces. The leadership behind the Savelugu project believes the region can replicate this trajectory if supply chains, training institutions, and logistics systems continue to expand.
The factory is expected to produce for international brands, signalling Ghana’s ambition to shift from raw material exports toward value-added manufacturing.
For many families, however, the impact is already tangible. Young people who might once have travelled hundreds of kilometres in search of uncertain livelihoods can now earn stable incomes close to home, support relatives, and build futures rooted in their own communities.
As Ghana intensifies its focus on decentralised industrialisation, Savelugu’s evolution from a source of migration to a centre of manufacturing offers a powerful example of how targeted investment can reshape local economies, one garment and one life at a time.
