Zonda Tec Ghana CEO Yang Yang wants Ghana to move from trading to engineering, warning that the country stands to lose out if it keeps importing and reselling machinery instead of building the technical skills to maintain and eventually manufacture it.
Speaking at the launch of Zonda's new light-duty truck range in Accra on Thursday, Madam Yang said the country's deep-rooted trading culture needs to make way for technical expertise that can actually support its growing industrial base.
"Me, Madam Yang, as the CEO of Zonda, I strongly advocate that we need to shift from trading to engineering," she said.
Engineers Over Importers
Her remarks come as Zonda expands local assembly of light trucks, SUVs and pickups, a move she says is deliberate.
Rather than simply shipping in finished vehicles for sale, the company is bringing in engineers to train Ghanaians on the ground.
"If everyone is only concentrating on trading, who is here to service the machinery, the trucks for our customers?" she asked.
She cited the company's partnership with Kofi Jobs, where Zonda engineers have been training local counterparts, alongside assembly operations where Ghanaian technicians are learning to build the 2.7-tonne, 5-tonne, 8-tonne and 12-tonne trucks from the ground up.
Human Resources, Not Just Mineral Resources
Madam Yang argued the stakes go beyond the automotive sector, especially for Ghana's youth.
"Ghana, we are full of not only mining resources, but we are also full of human resources," she said, pushing government to prioritise engineering, particularly automotive engineering, as a route to decent jobs and stronger industrial capacity.
For her, assembly should not stop at putting vehicles together. It should feed a pipeline of engineers and technicians capable of servicing and eventually developing industrial equipment locally.
She admitted the easier, more profitable path would have been to skip assembly altogether.
"That's why I bring Sino trucks to come to Ghana to assemble the light trucks. I can just bring the complete products for trading. It will earn me more money," she said, insisting Zonda chose the harder route because the gap needed filling.
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