Interview with Kate Quartey-Papafio, CEO of Reroy Cables

What is your assessment of the cable sector in Ghana? I understand there are three players which means there is already competition internally. You also have external competition.

Looking at it from the cable industry, the time is now, especially to do with our products. When we talk about the industry, there are a lot of cable manufacturers in the world. There are three cable manufacturers in Ghana and we always make sure we give it our best and create quality products. The influence of cheaper products from the outside is not helping our economy in terms of fire outbreaks and all that. It’s always better to focus on our local manufacturers and make sure we catch up with whatever the economy needs and what our building industries need.

What does the government want in terms of local content and policy regarding that?

I think that when we look at it now, I would say that it’s definitely our turn in Africa, especially in Ghana where we have a stable economy, where we can create more jobs for our people and where we have the chance for support. Once we have the support of the government in terms of local content, if not 50% or even more, we will be creating more jobs and more industries will be opening up to develop our economy and the nation as well. This also creates a feeling of self-worth. When you look at it in terms of the sub-Sahara, if we are talking about growth and you look at it in terms of job creation, we are poor. This is the time for us to really create jobs for our people. This is a time that we need the support of the government to support us in terms of industry, to create more jobs and make work for people so they can feel worthwhile and also feel that they can achieve things.

What do you do as a group? You have 20 years of experience in the cable industry and you have created a group. You are expanding from your initial industry to some parallel industries. You are in power distribution equipment, aluminium, copper and steel, oil and gas generation and energy, so you are already in an expansion process. Please tell us about your company.

For the company itself, over the years that we have been growing we have realized that in terms of energy, this is the time. When you look at this closely, quite recently we’ve been having problems with high energy which has actually improved a lot. There’s still room for expansion. We normally import everything. My point is that why doesn’t the country just get a group together that has the power to work together to put up transformers, feeder pillars and other things to do with the energy sector. We need the power to get the components and bring them here to assemble them so that we can create jobs for people as well.

Regarding metal, we have everything here. We have the bauxites for aluminium. Why bring it from the outside if we can get it right here? We are so blessed that we have all this in Ghana and of course that the economy is stable. If we are able to get ourselves together, we will be able to achieve it. We decided we will come in with a group to produce the aluminium and really get into power generation, which will provide the cables, and the companies to go with it. The question is focus so we decided to focus on the area of energy.

What are the main challenges you are facing in your industry, as a company?

As a company, the influence of cheap products coming from all over the world is a major challenge. The cost of borrowing is another problem for us. It is too high. Hopefully it will get better but how soon?

We talked to different bankers and yes it will go down but this is not yet the case and it is still very high. It’s impossible for industry to grow quickly. They need to use their own funds to grow which makes things go very slowly.

It’s one of the challenges. When you look at it in terms of Africa, we are looking at 1 billion people living in Africa, this is the time that if we have cheap funds, we can actually excel and more industries will spring up. People will get jobs to do and there will be wealth creation for all of us.

You are also developing a lot. You are not just selling in Ghana but also to other West African countries. Up to around 20% of your business is in that. Could you please tell us more about your exports?

It’s always good when you export out but of course the world is becoming so small now. The advantage is that we are here. It takes only a few days for customers to get their products. The advantage of us exporting out there is that it may take six weeks from the outside, but we have the products there within a week. We will be able to satisfy our customers outside of Ghana. That makes it more attractive when you look at the timing. For the neighbouring countries in the sub-region, we are right here.

Basically you are saying you could invest in other countries to construct and do like what you are doing in Ghana and assess the local markets directly? Is that part of your plan?

It is something that we have been thinking about, that we can expand to the neighbouring countries as well to set up plants if we have the investors.

How do you see the group growing in the next five years?

What I want to really achieve in the next five years is to be able to expand the companies into different areas and different aspects of the energy sector. We want our young people coming up to be able to learn and receive training, especially those in the technical schools. We want to set up different factories doing different things to do with the energy sector so that we can train the young people before they leave school. They can know exactly where they are going to work because there would be a training program where they can excel.

How about in terms of the company and sectors that you will reach?

In terms of growth, when you look at the cable industry, there’s a lot that we can do. Before there wasn’t as much, but now with our oil and gas, for example, we have marine cables we can now bring down the machinery to install the marine cable. We can start making these locally now that the opportunity is on our doorstep. People don’t even know where to find their marine cable if they are looking for it. We are here!

Once we know that in the next two years, this is the plan, this is the stage, then we can also position ourselves to be able to supply their needs in terms of the cable industry. There are a thousand and one uses for cables, from car wires to a vast number of areas. Once we know the area that will see growth in the next five years, we can position ourselves to take up the challenge to make any other cable that they will need.

We also do fire-resistant cables. Looking at all the fire outbreaks in the country, we decided that we should move into an area where we would specialize in fire resistance so we will be here and if they want to use any cable at all, it is better to use a fire-resistant cable. If there was a fire, they would be safe.

What are your competitive advantages?

I believe in quality, and of course the other companies do as well, and I believe in prompt delivery. I believe in quick service and I believe in focusing on exactly what you are doing, so that when they need you, you are there. We decided with the fire-resistant products to go into an area where our competitors are not working and that makes us special. We provide cables to the energy and utilities sectors and the ports. We have areas where we also excel because the things that some of our machines can do, others don’t have. That is an advantage that we have. We also export in these sectors. We have equipment to do with the wire ropes for the ports, the ships and all that. We are the only company doing that which makes us special.

What about power distribution equipment? What do you want to achieve in that sector?

We want to create more jobs for our people here and bring in the components to assemble them in Ghana. We want to train our young technical people. We can put our heads together and we can achieve this. We want a situation where we will give them the platform to learn how other industrial countries have been able to do it.

In power distribution equipment that you are building, like power generators, what are you going to produce?

We want it to be a one-stop shop. Once you get to Reroy, you get everything to do with power. You will have your cables, your components, and everything will be complete.

What do you want to achieve in the aluminium sector?

We want to produce aluminium to feed our factory. We use aluminium and copper. We want to use the aluminium sector for production in terms of raw materials, for ourselves and for the sub-region as well.

What about the oil and gas sector? Oil was discovered here in 2007 so there has been growth in that area since that time. What is your focus in that sector?

In the next five years, it will be anything to do with electricity, power generation and the area of our specialty which is part of energy in terms of power and development. Ghana is growing. When you look at it now, we need a lot of street lighting and we need a lot of power to really excel. So, in the next few years we would like to position ourselves where we will excel if not even now. That is what we want to achieve. Once the power goes off, there’s a standby. You have backups. We want to position ourselves so that we will have backups. If the power goes off, then this one goes one. We are always ready. That is one thing that we want to achieve.

How is it working as a woman in a world of men?

It is always interesting when it comes to the men’s world. I think all women can also excel. You look at it and think it is so interesting to see a lady in a man’s world. I think it is all within. You look at it and you say you can be out there making clothes, what makes you this? Well of course I think it is all part of entrepreneurship and leadership. If we are to talk about it, we could go on and on. The men’s world is somewhere that women can also be in.

I think it is the entrepreneurship skill that has brought my success, as well as focusing, paying attention to details, and making sure of prompt delivery; that is what I believe in. That is actually what made me get into cables because I realized that we weren’t bringing quality into the system. When you needed good products you had to get them from the outside and I said to myself, we are here. I believe in quality a lot so why can’t we do it?

It was said that we could import and I said no, let’s get the machinery and start from scratch. We started semi-finished and now we are starting from scratch. Now we can go further on into the raw materials aspect of it. I want to encourage all ladies that are listening that there is nothing that we cannot do. Women can also excel. I especially want to encourage the young people coming up. There are many things that they can do and the time is now.

Can you tell us about the awards you have won?

Recently, I won an Entrepreneurship of the Year award and an award at Women of Excellence. All women are able and they can also achieve. It’s a nice thing to think about. It’s really nice to be winning all these awards; it makes me feel worthwhile. I’m very happy that at the time that Ghana needs to move forward, we can give women the chance to participate in this.

Do you have a final message about Ghana or your company? What would you like to say to potential investors?

I would like to say that the time is now in Africa, especially in Ghana. This is the time to make investments because our economy is stable and Ghana is stable. We invite all investors to look at Ghana first because we import everything. This is the time that our industry can grow and there’s a lot we can do here. If we are talking about investments, I always say that they should bring their investments here because we need it for growth and to set up new industries. The time is now and we will work together as a team.