Is Ghana safe for tourists?
Pick pocketing, purse snatching, and various types of scams are the most common forms of crime confronting visitors. These types of theft are usually reported at crowded markets, beaches, parks, and tourist attractions. Incidences of violent crime, such as armed robbery, have risen over the last year, including reports of armed robberies in expatriate residential areas. Take security measures, such as traveling in groups and avoiding travel at night. Travelers who limit their display of jewelry and handle their cash discreetly reduce their vulnerability to crime. Carry limited amounts of cash and only photocopies of key documents. International credit cards are accepted widely across the country, and that's why growing number of travelers have been victims of credit card fraud after using their credit cards in Ghana. Perpetrators of business fraud often target foreigners. While such fraud schemes in the past have been largely associated with Nigeria, they are now prevalent throughout West Africa, including Ghana. Scams typically begin with an unsolicited communication (usually by e-mail) from an unknown individual who describes a situation that promises quick financial gain, often by assisting in the transfer of a large sum of money or valuables out of the country. A series of “advance fees” must be paid in order to conclude the transaction, such as fees to open a bank account or to pay certain taxes. In fact, the final payoff does not exist; the purpose of the scam is simply to collect the advance fees. Another type of fraud is by persons claiming to live in Ghana who profess friendship or romantic interest over the Internet. Once a relationship has been established, the correspondent typically asks the American to send money for living expenses, travel expenses, or visa costs. Sometimes a “hospital” or “doctor” telephones to say that the friend has suffered an “accident” and needs immediate financial assistance to cover medical bills. There are other variations of this scam, but all of them want to get money. Police, however are friendly, honest and helpful. Hotels are secure facilities with 24/7 protection. And apart from what I listed, Ghana is a pretty safe country to visit.
With 5,000 GHS, which business can I start in Ghana?
I can be vague and say buy a product, mark it up and sell.But you already knew that.The answer you are looking for is what exactly you can buy and sell. Now I need you to understand that selling is broad. You can sell services, or products, or even soft skills.My advice is to do a little soul searching before you venture into this business. Ask yourself where do I see myself in the next couple of years? Doing this or something closely related? Find something that matches your passion. The first days of business are wonderful, say the first month. The next months present the real hurdles where you’ll need to keep iterating to get different results. The only factor that would keep you going is “it is what I love doing”.Once that is done. Do a personal evaluation on if your present skills are any good to give you a share of the market, 1 customer is still a share. Your personal evaluation should also give you an idea of what part of your passion you’ll stick to. Let me give you a scenario; say you love musicYou can decide to be a DJAsk yourself, are my DJ’ing skills good enough to get a customer to pay?If your skills aren’t good enough, learn. No matter the field, its easier to learn today than it was 1 year ago and learning is the only way to understand how the competition can be outclassed.Now to the market. Do a market survey to understand which segment you’ll start with. As a DJ, do I start with music shows in my area or do I look to show my skills at gigs(weddings, events)? It would give you an overview of how you’ll gain a share of the market and directly how you would make, spend and how much money you would likely earn over a defined period.The last part is to find a partner. If you want to go quick, go alone but if you want to go far, go together. Dont randomly select people or you’ll loose specifically. Let it be someone that fills your gaps, it can be that you have skills but no money for equipment, or you have both but no people skills. Look for a way you can compliment each other before you partner. It can even be a person you look up to in your industry to whom you can reach out to as a protege or mentee.I tried to craft the answer to suit the question. If you aren’t okay, you can probably do the market survey still and look to see solutions you can proffer that customers would be willing to pay for of which you have a genuine interest in providing solutions to those problems.If you need any help. Ill be here.
How can someone invest $1000 in Ghana?
I refer you to my answer about investing $8,000 in Ghana:What are your investment objectives?Are you thinking of some kind of import/ export business that will keep you employed and give you a return?Are you thinking of preserving your capital value (T-bills investment works over the long-term, though there may be times when depreciation of the cedi reduces the value of your capital by more than the interest increases it)?Or are you looking for an exotic emerging markets play with the possibility of capital growth? That has not been very good over the past couple of years, businesses have found it difficult to cope with the macroeconomic situation in Ghana, so the markets have moved sideways (which means shares have lost value as the cedi has declined) and dividends have been reduced.One company that has done very well for me over the years is Fan Milk - produces ice creams and frozen yogurts. Guinness Ghana (now the only quoted brewer in Ghana) has cut its dividend for the past couple of years, and just had a rights issue to re-finance, which should make it prosperous again in the future. Total and Standard Chartered Bank - both locally quoted subsidiaries of the the transnational corporations are firm favourites in my portfolio.USD8,000? I started with GBP1,000 and added £500 a year for about 10 years - now the income is about £500 a year (despite reduced dividends). You need a long-term perspective - it is not a market for day-trading.
How is life in Ghana compared to Nigeria?
I arrived Ghana on the 5th of August 2017 and have been in the country till thetime of this writing. The environment and way of life is not too different fromNigeria. There are however some disparities .ElectricityThe first thought that came to my mind on arriving my residence was to go and plug my phone to the power outlet. I also did try to chide a colleague of mine for trying to turn ON the air-conditioner. I thought the building was powered by a generator. But to my surprise, there was always a steady power supply.PeopleThe people are quite welcoming and can easily smell a Nigerian from a distance. They are however not as aggressive as Nigerians, they are a bit laid-back. I used to hold the perception that they are all dark in complexion, but I was proved wrong.Language(s)Most of them communicate in Twi. Their pidgin (Chalé I make nice )is also different from what is obtainable in Nigeria. They also refer to almost everyone as Chalé. The English spoken by Ghanaians also differ from that of Nigerians.Cost of LivingThis should have been the first point. The cost of living is way morehigher that Nigeria. When I first came, I found it hard to buy some stuffs after converting the price to what I could have bought it when I was in Nigeria.The WeatherI stayed in EastLagon for the time I was in Ghana. The weather can get very hot towards March and there is also little rain through out the year in EastLagon. I heard the eastern region gets more of the rain.SecurityThe country is way more safer then their ‘elder brother’ Nigeria. The police seems friendly. Except the case that happened recently, I findthem to be more friendly even though I haven’t had anything to do with them.National PrideThey seem to flaunt their colors a lot. Seems everything has a touch of their colors.Road and TrafficThere isn’t much of a difference in the road network when comparing the two countries. The traffic here in Ghana can be gruesome but nothing compared to Lagos traffic. The roads are also ladened withpotholes as in Nigeria.The MusicOver here, Nigerian music is played a lot. There are also a lot of collaboration between the musicians from the two countries. I enjoy their music a lot. The likes of Sarkodie, Shatte Wale, Stonebwoy, Becca are seen as ‘gods’ here even though they speak a lot of their local language.
What can I do (in terms of investing) with $8,000.00 in Ghana, West Africa?
What are your investment objectives?Are you thinking of some kind of import/ export business that will keep you employed and give you a return?Are you thinking of preserving your capital value (T-bills investment works over the long-term, though there may be times when depreciation of the cedi reduces the value of your capital by more than the interest increases it)?Or are you looking for an exotic emerging markets play with the possibility of capital growth? That has not been very good over the past couple of years, businesses have found it difficult to cope with the macroeconomic situation in Ghana, so the markets have moved sideways (which means shares have lost value as the cedi has declined) and dividends have been reduced.One company that has done very well for me over the years is Fan Milk - produces ice creams and frozen yogurts. Guinness Ghana (now the only quoted brewer in Ghana) has cut its dividend for the past couple of years, and just had a rights issue to re-finance, which should make it prosperous again in the future. Total and Standard Chartered Bank - both locally quoted subsidiaries of the the transnational corporations are firm favourites in my portfolio.USD8,000? I started with GBP1,000 and added £500 a year for about 10 years - now the income is about £500 a year (despite reduced dividends). You need a long-term perspective - it is not a market for day-trading.
How did the the Internet get started?
Did a lot of people get together and put this all into what it is today or did just one very very smart man think of of this, one day when it was raining out and. This may sound funny but it all had to start from some place! was there a lot of people or was there just one man that did all of this,no matter who did it . it had to be HArd!!
What comes into your mind when you hear the word "Africa"?
I ask this because I am an African living in Africa although I have travelled to developed countries before. And I know that the foreign media portrays Africa in the worse possible light.But I also know that life in developed countries are not as PERFECT as they portray,else people wont die in the cold during winter. So as an African it is pretty annoying when the media keeps broadcasting stories that make the rest of the world wonder if there is anything good at all in Africa or the continent if full AIDS,famine and war knowing how they love to exagurate just to make the stories breaking news or catch public's attention. And those of you who have been to Africa before what were your thoughts before you visited? Had they changed positively or negatively after your visit or vacation? What led to the change of perception?