Hon. Alan Kyerematen

Former Minister for Trade and Industry

Hon. Alan Kyerematen is the immediate past Minister for Trade and Industry of the Republic of Ghana. He was appointed in January 2017 by President Akufo-Addo and he resigned honourably after six years of service to the country. Mr. Kyerematen had previously served in a similar capacity as Minister for Trade, Industry and President Special Initiative (PSI) under former President Kufour, between 2003 and 2007. Prior to that he served as Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States from 2001 to 2003.

Alan has had an extensive and distinguished record in international trade, public policy, enterprise development, politics, diplomacy and law. He was a Senior Trade Policy Advisor for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. He was also Regional Director for UNDP’s flagship programme for enterprise development in Africa, Enterprise Africa, establishing Enterprise Support Programmes in 13 African countries.

As Minister for Trade and Industry, he led the implementation of the Government of Ghana’s Industrial Transformation Agenda which is anchored on a Ten Point Plan, including the One District One Factory (1D1F) Initiative, the establishment of Strategic Anchor Industries, including the Automobile Industry, the development of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), the establishment of Industrial Parks and SEZs including the Greater Kumasi Industrial City, and enhancing Export Development in Ghana.

Mr. Kyerematen was one of the leading Architects for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) project between 2011 and 2012, and successfully led Ghana’s bid in 2018 to host the Headquarters Secretariat of AfCFTA in Accra.

Prior to his role in politics, Alan Kyerematen was responsible for establishing and managing the EMPRETEC Programme in Ghana, a leading business development institution sponsored by the United Nations. He led the transformation of EMPRETEC from a UN project into an independent Foundation, which is recognized as a world-class institution and best practice model for entrepreneurship development in Africa.

Between 1984 and 1990, he managed a number of major private and public sector consulting assignments in Ghana, as a Principal Consultant and Head of Public Systems Management with the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI), a leading management development institution in Ghana. Prior to this, he was a senior corporate executive with UAC Ghana Ltd, a subsidiary of Unilever International, where he worked in various managerial positions with distinction between 1977-1984.

Alan Kyerematen is a graduate in Economics from the University of Ghana and is also a qualified Barrister-at-Law from the Ghana Law School. In addition, he is a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the School of Public Affairs and the School of Management of the University of Minnesota, under the US Fulbright Fellowship Programme. His secondary school alma maters are Adisadel College and Achimota School of Cape Coast and Accra respectively.

In 1994, Mr. Kyerematen was listed as one of the top 100 Global Leaders for the New Millennium by the Time International Magazine together with other personalities such as Bill Gates and John F Kennedy Jnr. of the United States of America. In 2013, he was nominated by the Heads of States of the African Union to contest as Africa’s Candidate for the position of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Alan was born on 3^rd October 1955 in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He is married to Patricia Christabel Kyerematen and are blessed with two sons, Alex and Victor.