Three Senators from the State of Nebraska, United States of America, and an international consultant, are set to arrive in Ghana on Sunday, November 13, 2022, for a 5-day visit. Their visit is aimed at working and developing business relations between Ghana and the State of Nebraska, with a focus on Agriculture, Agro Processing, Energy, Lands and Natural Resources.
In a press release issued in Accra, Agrihouse Foundation, co-host of the visiting senators, described the visit as one that will create the much-desired economic path opening up and deepening opportunities between Ghana and the State of Nebraska, especially for actors in the Livestock and Agro Processing sub-sectors.
The visiting Senators are upbeat about the immense mutually beneficial fallouts from their visit as they anticipate there will be more to learn about the Investment and Development opportunities in Ghana, especially through expected interactions with both the Public and the Private sectors’ key players, as well as through field trips for first-hand experience.
Through these networking engagements, the release stated, the august visitors are “positive about connecting better with Ghanaian businesses towards creating and establishing viable and fruitful business relations between Ghana and the State of Nebraska.”
The visiting delegation of Senators include the twenty-five years old Julie Slama, who happens to be the youngest woman serving in the State of Nebraska.
Miss Slama made waves on the internet in early April 2022, when she took to the Nebraska senate floor to support the Human Life Protection Act. Earlier in the year, she had also introduced the Heartbeat bill, a bill to ban abortion after a baby’s heartbeat is detected. Her bills on agriculture, rural economic development, and education passed support.
She presently serves on several Executive Boards in Nebraska, including the Judiciary Committee, Retirement Committee, Banking, Commerce, and the Insurance Committee; and she is very passionate about causes and issues in the Health and Agriculture sectors.
Leading the delegation is former Senator Ken Schilz who served for eight years as a Nebraska State Senator representing ten counties in western Nebraska. He was elected Chairman of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committees and served on the Banking, Commerce, Insurance, Business, Labor, Education, and General Affairs Committees. He is a Strategist who has, over the years, worked
with various companies to create relationships with communities and other entities to further Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Job Growth within the State.
Before serving in the Legislature, Schilz managed a 20,000-herd feed yard for 15 years. Presently with Nebraska Strategies, the former Senator is keen on sharing and leveraging on his experience to develop and strengthen Investment, Impact Projects, especially in Agro Processing and Value Addition.
Kofi Amoabin, the non-Senator amongst the visiting group, is an International Consultant on Political Affairs and International Trade. Amoabin has assisted many US companies to do business in Africa, just as he has similarly assisted sub-Saharan entities to do business in the U.S.
Mr. Amoabin’s role as a consultant encompasses projects in the US, Germany, UK, Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Cameroon, Uganda and others.
The successful Consultant who once served as an election judge in Will County, Illinois since 2008 has, also, between 2013 and 2014, worked as News Reporter in Ghana when the candidate Nana Akufo-Addo challenged Ghana’s 2012 Presidential Elections.
Finally, Senator Andrew La Grone who represented Nebraska’s 49th Legislative District where he served as the Vice Chair of the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee, championing Voter ID and Election Integrity Legislation.
Senator La Grone also led a filibuster that secured a vote on the largest property tax cut package in the State history. Prior to serving in the Legislature, Andrew served as the Legal Counsel for the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee from 2016-2019, and on the Washington, D.C. staff of Congressman Adrian Smith. He graduated from the University Of Nebraska College Of Law with High Distinction in 2015, running his own Law Firm.
The leader of the eminent delegation, Senator Schilz, says that whilst in Ghana, they will also jointly launch, with Agrihouse Foundation, the “Nebraska-Ghana AgriValue Addition Acceleration & Development Conference” – NEGRI-VAD, an annual event, which aims to develop business markets amongst Ghanaian Value Chain Actors and businesses in Nebraska, United States of America.
“We are all excited about coming to Ghana and are confident that, by the end of our five (5) days visit, we should have been able to have met the right people, had a better understanding of the respective sectors and laid the grounds for the beginning of a Ghana- Nebraska sustainable relations,” he concluded.
