London, UK, June 29, 2020//- Ms Valentina Mintah has become the first black female to be appointed to the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Executive Board.
The election to the board of the Ghanaian-British technology executive, who is based in Dubai, was announced last week alongside the appointment of MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga as ICC’s new Chair.
Ms. Mintah is the first black female Executive Board member in the 100 year history of the organisation.
Ms. Mintah, internationally-recognised for her expertise in trade facilitation and process automation, is the founder and former CEO of West Blue Consulting, an award-winning ICT organisation based in West Africa.
Having established West Blue Consulting in 2012, Ms. Mintah led the company to successfully develop and deliver a national single window platform for Nigeria, significantly optimisting and improving trade facilitation in the country, and leading to savings of USD 25 million per month for the Government of Nigeria.
In 2014, West Blue Consulting further harnessed its customs modernisation expertise to develop and implement a national single window platform for Ghana.
Within two years of its implementation in 2015 at ports across the country, the platform had saved the Government of Ghana USD 500 million.
This resulted in Ghana rising through the ranks of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, becoming a vibrant hub for continental free trade.
The International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) newest Executive Board member, Valentina Mintah, has said that one of her key priorities in the new role will be to boost trade ties between Africa and the rest of the world.
Speaking following the announcement, Valentina Mintah said: “It is a great privilege to have been elected to the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce, and the organisation’s most diverse board to date.
Alongside colleagues from ICC and its national committees, including ICC-Ghana, I look forward to drawing on my experience of working with West African and other emerging economies to support the promotion of international trade, responsible business conduct and a global approach to regulation.”
ICC is the institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries. The Executive Board is responsible for developing and implementing ICC’s strategy, policy and programme of action, and for overseeing the financial affairs of the world business organisation. Executive Board members further support the work of ICC national committees, such as ICC-Ghana, whose mission is to promote the interests of Ghana’s business community and of which Ms. Mintah is Vice-Chair.
ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO said: “ICC is delighted to welcome Valentina Mintah to its global Executive Board. Throughout her career, Valentina has championed international trade facilitation both in her home region of West Africa and in number of transitional economies across the world. With her additional role as Vice-Chair of ICC Ghana, she is uniquely placed to enable the strengthening of commercial and trade ties between a number of key, high growth global markets.”
African Eye Report
