Ekwow Spio-Garbrah (born 1953) is a Ghanaian politician who was the Minister for Trade and Industry from 2014 to 2017 in the Mahama administration. He was formerly the Minister of Communications,

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

and Acting Minister of Mines & Energy in the Rawlings administration. He was Ghana's ambassador to the United States and Mexico. He is a former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) traces to the British Empire's Pacific Cable Board in 1901, though in its current form, was created by international treaty, the ''Commonwealth Telegraphs Agreement'' between Commonwealth na ...

. Spio-Garbrah is chairman of the African Business Centre for Developing Education (ABCDE), based in Ghana. He has been a chairman/CEO of several Pan-African non-governmental organizations, CEO of a church, and has held senior positions in banking and financial services. He is chairman of Solarfi, a renewable energy company.

Early life

Spio-Garbrah was born in

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

at the Okomfo Anokye Hospital to former Ghanaian ambassador Britton Spio-Garbrah and nurse/midwife and poet Elizabeth Spio-Garbrah. He began his basic education at the King Tackie School in Accra. His father was the first headmaster and founder of the Konongu Odumase Secondary School. Both his parents are natives of the Central and

Western regions The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in Ancient Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of the Yumen Pass, most often the Tarim Basin in prese ...

of Ghan

Spio-Garbrah was a student at

Achimota School Achimota School (Help:IPA/English, /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra Reg ...

and received a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in English from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

. He completed coursework for a master's degree in communications from the same university and obtained a MA in International Affairs from

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

in Athens. Subsequently, Ekwow received a graduate certificate for International Banking and Finance from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 1984.

Early career

Ekow Spio-Garbrah's early business experience included working as a mortgage banker in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, as a sales executive with

Southwestern Bell Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. It does business as other d.b.a. names in its operating region, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and portions of Illinois. The company is ...

, and as chairman of the Middle East Africa Group within the international public relations firm of Hill and Knowlton in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In that capacity, from 1979 to 1985, he provided investment, export and tourism promotion counsel to the governments of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

; financial relations advice to the

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

Crédit Agricole Crédit Agricole Group (), sometimes called La banque verte (, , due to its historical ties to farming), is a French international banking group and the world's largest cooperative financial institution. It is the second largest bank in France, ...

of France, UBAF-Arab American Bank, and energy sector intelligence to

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) is an organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing and oil-dependent countries in order to collectively influence the global oil market and maximize Profit (eco ...

. From 1988 to 1991, Spio-Garbrah was a Corporate Relations Officer at the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and a member of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

affiliate, in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. From 1991 to 1994 he was Head of Communication at the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

, directing the bank's global corporate and marketing communications and acting as institutional spokesman.

Political appointments

Ambassador to the United States

Ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, , sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Notes {{reflist, 30em External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...

from 1994 to 1997, Spio-Garbrah was noted for his success in rebuilding Ghana's image across the United States, including organising an unprecedented eight-city investment promotion programme for Ghana's then-President H.E. Flt Lt.

Jerry John Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born Jerry Rawlings John; 22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator, and politician who led the country briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993 and then se ...

in the U.S. As a result, partly of the successful bilateral programmes he executed, Ghana became the first country to be visited by U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

during his famous five-country Africa visit in 1998 and is now a recipient of the

Millennium Challenge Account The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress in 2004. It is an independent agency separate from the State Department and USAID. It provides grants to countries tha ...

. President Clinton's visit to Ghana was also followed by visits from President George Bush and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, making it the only sub-Saharan African country to receive all three Presidents.

Minister of Communication

As a Minister of Communication of Ghana, from 1997 to 1998, Spio-Garbrah initiated, developed and implemented policies and programmes that supported the increasing convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, the internet, publishing, news media and postal services, all of which were under his supervision. Concurrently, as chairman of the National Communication Authority (NCA), he had responsibility for regulating all aspects of the telecom, Internet and broadcasting sectors. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah was also in charge of the Public Education Committee which successfully re-introduced the VAT to Ghana after a disastrous first attempt in the early 1990s had left several protesters dead. The VAT has since mobilized USD billions for Ghana's socio-economic and infrastructure development in Ghana.

Education Minister

While Education Minister from 1998 to 2001, Spio-Garbrah was credited with the creation of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), which has since mobilized over USD Billions for educational sector infrastructure, transportation, equipment and scholarships. The GETFund law has been widely praised as one of the most transformative pieces of legislation in Africa relating to the education sector.

Minister for Trade and Industry

From 2014 to January 2017 Ekwow Spio-Grabrah served as Minister for Trade and Industry for the

Republic of Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In this position, he led in all aspects of national policy making and initiation of legislation for various aspects of domestic and international trade as well as promoting industry and private sector/business dialogue, and collaboration for Ghana's competitiveness. He supervised agencies such as the Ghana Free Zones Board, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the National Standards Authority, the National Board for Small Scale Industries and the Rural Enterprises Programme.

Other appointments

In September 2021 the UK-headquartere
Global ECO Capacity Exchange
(ECO) appointed Spio-Garbrah as its president for Africa and Global Managing Director. He joined ECO after gaining international credibility through numerous high-level appointments on the world stage for nearly 45 years.

CEO Christian Action Faith Ministries

In 2011, Spio-Garbrah was appointed chief executive officer of the Christian Action Faith Ministries International. This is a global charismatic movement with millions of members across the world. This appointment made Spio-Garbrah the first person to occupy the position of CEO of a Christian denomination in Ghana. The Church's founder,

Nicholas Duncan-Williams Nicholas Duncan-Williams (born 12 May 1957) is a Ghanaian religious leader and Independent Charismatic preacher, serving as the presiding Archbishop and General Overseer of the Action Chapel International (ACI) Ministry. Headquartered in Accra, ...

is married to the famed US trade expert

Rosa Whitaker Rosa Whitaker Duncan-Williams is an American former trade negotiator who served as the first Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. She now runs a consulting firm, The Wh ...

of the Whitaker Group, once US Under Secretary to Africa.

President Dominion University College

Between 2012 and 2014, Spio-Garbrah was appointed the President of the Dominion University College, Accra, Ghana which is a private Christian University founded by

. He was responsible for all aspects of strategic planning for the academic programmes, financial and accounting policies, and human resources and administrative systems for the operations of the private Christian University.

Presidential bid

In December 2006, Spio-Garbrah contested the leadership of Ghana's main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Managing 8.7% of the vote, he came second to

John Atta Mills John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as the 11th president of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the govern ...

, who subsequently won Ghana's 2008 presidential election. He remains a leading member of Ghana's current ruling party, the National Democratic Congress NDC. On 15 January 2010, Spio-Garbrah was elected a vice chairman of the NDC. He was named Director of the Communications of the party from 2001 to 2003.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100313155853/http://www.cto.int/Default.aspx?tabid=99 * https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/officerProfile?symbol=TKG.N&officerId=1224316 * http://www.google.com/search?q=spio%2C%20NDC%2C%20ghana&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&tab=nw {{DEFAULTSORT:Spio-Garbrath, Ekwow Living people 1953 births Alumni of Achimota School Ministers for education of Ghana Communications ministers of Ghana Trade ministers of Ghana Ghanaian business executives National Democratic Congress (Ghana) politicians Ghanaian bankers Ambassadors of Ghana to the United States Ambassadors of Ghana to Mexico World Bank Group people Ghanaian chief executives Industry ministers of Ghana Ghanaian corporate directors New York University alumni Politicians from Ashanti Region 20th-century Ghanaian politicians 21st-century Ghanaian politicians