The 10th Anniversary Celebration of the prestigious Ghana Corporate Executives Awards 2025 came off in the evening of Saturday, 22nd November 2025, at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, under the theme: “The Role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Corporate Governance and Economic Development”.
It was powered by the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana, organisers of the prestigious Ghana Entrepreneurs Awards.
The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Kwaku Appiah-Adu, Professor of Strategy at the GIMPA School of Public Service & Governance on the topic “The Role of PPPs in National Development”.
It was an event during which influential corporate leaders over the last decade were honoured.
The climax of the night was the conferment of the highest honour, Lifetime Achievement Award on Prof. Kwaku Appiah-Adu.
This award celebrates individuals whose careers and contributions have had a lasting and profound impact in their fields and have demonstrated a lifetime of innovative and visionary leadership in the corporate sector.
The Award is given to corporate sector executives who exemplify exceptional leadership and influence in Ghana’s corporate sector, with a combined 30 years of corporate world experience, a professional who has worked in a variety of the country’s business sectors for at least three decades, accumulating significant knowledge and skills in various industries and roles, often in leadership positions, with longer-term influence, and a broader historical impact over the past decades across a wide-range of economic sectors.
The Lifetime Achievement Award criteria focus on demonstrable impact through transformational leadership, strategic vision, consistent performance, integrity, financial growth, innovation, adaptability, positive influence on their organizations, and impact on the business community over their entire career.
It differs from awards that focus solely on recent achievements or short-term accomplishments, instead celebrating the enduring influence and lasting effects of corporate sector leaders.
His recognition underscores his enduring influence in shaping corporate strategy and governance in the country, and his pivotal role in promoting innovation and sustainable development.
The Award recognises individuals whose careers and contributions have had a lasting and significant impact on the country’s corporate sector.
It also celebrates visionary leadership, strategic influence, and transformational achievements across multiple industries over three decades of professional service.
We take this opportunity to congratulate Prof. Kwaku Appiah-Adu, the recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. His address as the event’s keynote speaker, which focused on the role PPPs in national development, as well as his award, were the highlight of the evening’s celebration to honour outstanding corporate sector leaders of the decade.
In his keynote speech, Prof. Appiah-Adu, asserted that Ghana’s path to a sustainable, inclusive and transformative development requires a synergetic partnership between the public and private sectors.
He underscored this point while calling for a renewed national commitment to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as facilitators of national development.
“For about three decades, I have had the privilege of serving Ghana in diverse capacities — as a technocrat, strategist, and policy advisor — navigating the delicate intersection between government reform and private sector dynamism. Through this experience, one lesson has remained clear: the transformation of nations in the 21st Century demands a symbiotic relationship between the public and private spheres,” he noted.
Additionally, he emphasised that no government, irrespective of how visionary, can single-handedly deliver inclusive development; neither can the private sector thrive sustainably without an enabling public sector that provides policy clarity, ensures stability, and safeguards the public interest.
“The nexus of these two forces — when built on trust, transparency, and shared purpose — forms the bedrock of enduring prosperity,” he asserted.
PPPs as Stimuli for Modern Governance
Moreover, Prof. Appiah-Adu stressed that PPPs are not merely contractual arrangements for financing infrastructure but enable government to leverage private-sector innovation, efficiency, and capital — while maintaining regulatory oversight and public-interest safeguards.
For emerging economies such as Ghana, he said, PPPs offer a practical path to bridge the huge gap between national aspirations and the limits of public budgets.
On sectors where PPPs can fast-track development at a scale government alone cannot accomplish, he cited energy, transport, healthcare, urban development, and digital infrastructure.
“They transform government from being the sole provider of public goods to becoming an enabler and facilitator of innovation,” he stressed.
However, Prof. Appiah-Adu cautioned that while PPPs offer considerable opportunities, many have failed due to weak fundamentals, deficient contract design, inadequate institutional capacity, political discontinuity, and misaligned motivations.
“I have witnessed how even the most ambitious initiatives can falter when accountability mechanisms are inadequate, when public institutions lack the technical expertise to negotiate effectively, or when political transitions disrupt continuity,” he recounted.
Need for robust legal & institutional structures
Prof. Appiah-Adu also proposed a predictable and transparent legal structure for PPPs; competitive and fair procurement procedures; trustworthy dispute-resolution mechanisms; institutional capacity to design and assess partnerships; as well as digital systems for real-time project monitoring and evaluation.
He further stressed that structures alone cannot guarantee success, hence the requirement to build the capacity of public servants in financial modelling, project appraisal, performance-based contracting and risk assessment.
Prof. Appiah-Adu also highlighted the need for a well-calibrated risk allocation — he recommended construction risks for the private sector, while government assumed policy and regulatory risks.
Unexploited opportunities across the economy
Furthermore, Prof. Appiah-Adu, emphasised transport and logistics (modernised ports, rehabilitated rail systems, efficient trade corridors), healthcare and education (improved access through technology-led service delivery) as critical sectors where PPPs could be harnessed for national development, as well as urban infrastructure and housing, waste and environmental management, special economic zones and industrial parks.
Leadership, trust and integrity
Beyond technical qualifications, Prof. Appiah-Adu also stressed values: “Partnerships do not only flourish on contracts but also thrive on character. He asserted that public sector must exhibit transparency, professionalism, and accountability, while the private sector engenders innovation, ethical conduct, and long- term commitment.
Prof. Appiah-Adu concluded with a call to action: “Our shared progress depends not on competition between sectors but on their cooperation.”
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