The Chief-Executive Officer of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) Ghana, Hanan Abdul-Wahab was conferred with the Special African Business Leadership Commendation Award, during the just-concluded International Forum on African-Caribbean Leadership (IFAL) which took place on the margins of the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the iconic Harvard Club of New York City, United States of America.
Abdul-Wahab was honoured in the presence of five Heads of State from Africa and the Caribbean region, including President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of Guyana, Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda, Prime Minister Terrance M. Dew of St. Kitts And Nevis, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre of St. Lucia, and President Adama Barrow of The Gambia, as well as over 250 business, political and social justice leaders who participated in the event in New York.
The award was in recognition of Abdul-Wahab’s achievements in spearheading key reforms to salvage NAFCO, which was a nearly-collapsed state food security entity, as well as successfully leading the company to become a self-financed, profit-making, and results-oriented state-owned enterprise.
Mr Hanan Abdul-Wahab is an Agricultural Engineer and Post-Harvest Expert, who started his career as an Administrative Officer at the National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), which was newly established at that time. After almost two years, he was made the Area Manager for the three Northern Regions, a position he held for five years before the government of Ghana appointed him Acting Chief Executive Officer for the same organization. After only a year, the Board of Directors of the company confirmed his appointment, making him the substantive Chief Executive Officer, a position he still holds. He, therefore, became the first in-house staff to have headed the organization.
Apart from embarking on a massive and strategic warehouse and storage infrastructure revamp, his partnership with Ghana’s Ministry of Education to supply food commodities to Senior High Schools under the government’s flagship Free Senior High School (FSHS), Abdul-Wahab is credited to have repositioned NAFCO as a key national vehicle for strategic development. Under his leadership, the company renovated its head office building in Accra, expanded the company’s operations to all 16 regions, and increased staff strength by almost 10 folds. The activities of his company aided the government’s resolve to reduce post-harvest losses significantly. He is a respected Philanthropist and Founder of The Aludiba Foundation (TAF), a humanitarian NGO which has impacted thousands of people mostly the needy, women, and the aged through life-transforming initiatives and projects.
The International Forum on African-Caribbean Leadership (IFAL) is an ALM flagship event, held annually on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to bring leaders together in setting policy direction and as a peer review mechanism. The 2022 edition of the forum provided an opportunity for the regional leaders to build strategic partnerships, and bilateral cooperation, as well as increase engagements in trade and investments, innovation and technology transfer, culture and tourism, and other sectors. The event also had a special awards presentation ceremony to honour and recognise leaders who have distinguished themselves excellently in business and public service, and have contributed immensely to the socio-economic development of their communities.
Alongside Hanan Abdul-Wahab, other honourees during the event in New York include Mário Augusto Caetano João, Minister of Economy and Planning, Angola; Vickie Anwuli Irabor, President of the Defense and Police Officers’ Wives Association (DEPOWA), Nigeria; Wilfred Matukeni, CEO, National Oil Infrastructure Company, Zimbabwe; and José de Lima Massano, Governor, National Bank of Angola.
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