Charterhouse, Ghana’s leading event management and audiovisual production company, is marking its 25th anniversary of delivering top-tier events with the introduction of an exciting new initiative: The Business Elevate Series.

 This innovative series is designed to shine a spotlight on key economic sectors through a series of dynamic B2B and B2C events, including industry conferences, seminars, and exhibitions.

Kicking off the series is The Gastro Feastival, a groundbreaking annual food industry festival that will showcase Ghana’s rich and diverse food ecosystem and agribusinesses from production to consumption.

The launch event will take place on Friday, March 7, 2025, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Grand Arena (Accra International Conference Centre).

This landmark event will bring together food industry stakeholders, enthusiasts, experts, and organizations to highlight the food industry’s critical role in Ghana’s socio-economic development and culture.

It will also promote food security, digital innovation, women’s empowerment, youth employment in agribusiness, and sustainable practices.

The Business Elevate Series is a game-changing initiative designed to foster growth and transformation across multiple sectors. With Charterhouse’s deep expertise in organizing impactful meetings, the series aims to unlock investment opportunities, drive innovation, and catalyze social and economic change.

The Gastro Feastival will address six major pillars that drive industry transformation: Investment Opportunities; Job Creation; Innovation, Technology, and Digitization; Youth Involvement (entrepreneurship and career opportunities); Women’s Involvement; Environmental and Social Governance (ESG); Export Opportunities

The event will also establish a Resource Bank, spotlighting key growth opportunities and ensuring the effective allocation of resources to transform Ghana’s food industry.

The Gastro Feastival is a Charterhouse initiative, with Kosmos Innovation Centre as the technical partner.

The Deputy Finance Minister Dr Alex Ampaabeng, has proposed that online trading companies should be taxed to bolster the economy.

He noted that these companies, both local and international, generate significant revenue from their Ghanaian clients, which underscores the necessity for taxation.

In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View, Dr Ampaabeng pointed out various potential revenue sources for Ghana, including online businesses and content creation companies.

He questioned why other national companies operating in Ghana are taxed, but social media platforms like Youtube and Facebook, which run numerous advertisements, are not included in the Ghanaian tax system.

According to him, these social media companies earn profits from the advertisements they display, and online trading companies also generate income from the sale of their products and services.

He mentioned online trading companies such as Jiji, Jumia, and Tonaton, which he believes surpass all physical marketplaces in Ghana in size.

According to him, “I can’t think of a country which has not gotten a digital service tax system of some sort, so Ghana is long overdue. Just to make an example so that people will appreciate where I’m coming from. Go to Youtube and play a video, within one or two minutes, you are going to watch about two, or three adverts.”

“What it tells you is that Facebook or Youtube is making profits right here in Ghana. Go to your Facebook account, and you are going to see a number of adverts on your right, left. What it is telling you is that Facebook is making profits right here in Ghana and not being taxed. Meanwhile, there are companies operating in Ghana, for jurisdiction reasons, of course, that are being taxed,” he said.

The Deputy Minister added that “So then, it comes to the question of the application of our tax laws. Revenues generated in Ghana are subject to taxes. We have Facebook, TikTok and all those players, these are digital platform owners.”

He stressed, “Then we have the digital or market players, here we are talking about individuals who are using the digital platforms. We have Jiji, Jumia, Tonaton, these combined, are bigger than all physical marketplaces in Ghana. And it tells you the volume of transactions, that are going on there.”

He expressed his hope that individuals earning online profits from Ghanaian residents would be taxed.

“There are conversations ongoing, I wouldn’t want to pre-empt anything, maybe in the future, it might not be anytime soon, what I would like to see, is a Ghana where people who are earning all forms of profits in the country are subject to taxes. People who are trading online to Ghanaian residents, people who are generating revenue from Ghana are allowed to pay taxes,” he noted.

Additionally, he proposed a collaboration with the government to curb cybercrime by registering and verifying these online trading companies.

“We can have a system where the government engages these operators, so individuals will submit their Ghana Card and are registered and verified,”he concluded.

Source: Citinewsroom.com