What is GCX | Ghana Commodity Exchange

Mr. Yamoah’s experience from working at the Ghana Stock Exchange, Central Securities Depository Ltd, Absa Bank Ghana Ltd, Venture Capital Trust Fund and as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Accra Institute of Technology are key knowledge and skills he brings along and are grounded on years of actual practice from both executive and non-executive roles. They come in especially handy in current times when attention to strategic direction in a post-Covid new normal, challenging and highly competitive environment is very much a necessity. Furthermore, his deep understanding of corporate governance, risk mitigation, regulatory compliance and sustainability issues will be highly beneficial to any entity he may serve whether in an executive role or otherwise, in both private and public sectors.

Mrs. Setutsi Goka Ivowi (Tucci) is the CEO of the Ghana Commodity Exchange. She is an experienced business leader with over 20 years’ experience in marketing and general business management in the UK and emerging markets of Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. With her background in managing multi-million-dollar businesses across the value chains in coffee and cocoa for Nestle, in 2018 she was engaged as part of the core team tasked to establish the Ghana Commodity Exchange, becoming its founding Deputy CEO.

Prior to this, Tucci was the first female and first Ghanaian Executive Director for Nestle Central & West Africa Region, managing teams across 22 countries. During her 15 years with Nestle, she worked in various roles including Business Unit Director, Marketing Communications Director and Managing Director.

Her drive for innovation across the value chain has enabled business success through positive economic growth cycles, but more so through socio-political and economic turbulence. She has led teams through the reversal of negative P&L accounts in Indonesia and Nigeria, change management programmes resulting from structural changes in Central and West Africa, as well as through crises such as Ebola when she was the Managing Director of Nestlé Guinea. 

Tucci is a Chartered Marketer and Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM UK) and her professional qualifications include executive education in Leadership from London Business School. She holds a BA in Political Science and French from the University of Sussex and an MBA from Warwick University, both in the UK, as well as a Political Science Degree from the Higher Institute of Political Studies, in Aix-En-Provence, France

Mr. Robert Dowuona Owoo (ED): Mr. Owoo is a Lawyer by profession and also holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and an MSc in Finance and Management from the Exeter University, UK.  He started his professional career with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana where he worked in various capacities and has thirteen (13) years’ experience in Securities (Capital Market) Regulations and Supervision. Mr. Owoo served as the project director for the Ghana Commodity Exchange project from 2013 and led the Ghana team to design the current Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) model for Ghana. One of the founding members of the GCX, he is currently the Chief Operations Officer of the GCX doubling up as the head of legal and compliance.

Mr. Daaku is a Banker and a financial consultant with over 18 years of experience. He is a Director of Afintek Limited- a financial consulting and management firm. He is also the Executive Director  and Cofounder of Nature’s Treasure Foods – a food tech startup and  an early investor and advisor to Intelocate in Toronto, Canada- a tech company in Toronto in the field of task management. He currently consults on Infrastructure and Project Finance, Derivatives and Mortgage Financing.

He began his career with a boutique consulting firm in Accra, Ghana, working with SMEs on strategy and cost optimization. He then joined Ecobank Ghana Limited where he managed credit relationships within the supply chain of regional multinational customers of the bank. He later joined Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto, Canada in 2006 as a Manager in Special Accounts Management where he helped manage the bank’s global corporate credit debt recovery portfolio. He subsequently joined their Global Risk Market team as a Senior Manager managing the Specialized Lending, Asset Managers and Municipal Finance Credit Risk portfolio for the US Market. 

He then moved to Global Capital Markets Banking as Associate Director for Precious Metals, Base Metals and Foreign Exchange managing an over US$45Bn client relationship portfolio, which involved Asset Managers, Reinsurance, Banks, Sovereign Wealth Funds and Corporates. 

Kwame is a graduate of the University of Ghana and has an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at Western University in Canada and a Certificate in Emerging Technologies and Renewable Energy from Stanford University. 

Kwame is an avid volunteer and has raised funds for United Way in Toronto and help establish the United Way GenNEXT on Bay Street, Toronto. He was instrumental in setting up Golden Futures in Canada, an NGO that engaged tutoring young minds in townships in Cape Town together students from the University of Windsor, York University in Toronto as well as Wayne State University in Detroit. He is an avid cyclist and runner. Over the years, he has used his passion for outdoor activities to raise funds for cancer research through the Ride to Conquer Cancer, as well for Juvenile Diabetes Research, Multiple Sclerosis, Becel Ride for Heart for Heart and Stroke Research. 

Mr. Stephen Antwi-Asimeng is an independent financial advisor providing banking, investment, corporate finance, and private equity advisory services to large corporate and SME firms. He has over twenty-eight (28) years’ experience in the banking, financial services, and SME business community including over eighteen (18) years in senior executive management positions.

Stephen is a valued member and chair of local and international boards of directors, offering strategic leadership and corporate governance support. He served on the board of Africa Venture Capital & Private Equity Association for six (6) years from 2004.

Stephen has extensive domain experience in several sectors including banking & financial services, agribusiness, education, pharmaceutical and healthcare. He was selected by the Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) as a member of an ad hoc team of experts on private equity and venture capital as an asset class in SME finance in Africa in 2013 and 2015.

Mr. Antwi-Asimeng holds a Master of Arts degree in Banking and Finance from University of Wales, United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Ghana, Legon. He has received executive education from several reputable institutions including INSEAD, Amsterdam Institute of Finance and Harvard Business School

Wendy Malm is the head of Trading, Central depository and surveillance at the Ghana Commodity Exchange. In this role she has developed commodity contracts, executed several trading strategies and has continually supervised the processing and execution of all market transactions also ensured that all trades conform to the regulatory requirements of the GCX and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

She holds a BA (Hons.) in Economics & Geography from KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana and an MBA in Banking and Finance from the Paris Graduate School of Management, France. She is also certified by the Ghana Stock Exchange as an Authorized Dealing Officer and is a member of the Ghana Stockbrokers Association and a student member of the Institute of Chartered accountants Ghana.

Wendy is part of the team that developed the systems and processes towards the setup of the GCX. She represents GCX on the Capital Market Master Plan Group for the development of markets and products. She also serves on the Internal Audit, Health and Safety and Brokers technical Committees at GCX. Prior to joining GCX, she served in several capacities within the SIC group for thirteen years attaining a rank of head of trading. She has Twelve years’ experience in Stock trading and operations, Eight (8) years’ experience in treasury and fixed income trading and operations and a years’ experience in Fund/Portfolio Management. At SIC Brokerage Limited, she also served as a member of the investment committee and shortly as a compliance officer

Tucci Ivowi is the Chief Executive Officer and a founding member of the Ghana Commodity Exchange. Her professional experience of over 20 years spans the UK, emerging markets of Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa’s private and public sectors. She specializes in strategy, innovation, and business turnaround.

Prior to joining the Ghana Commodity Exchange, Tucci was the first female and first Ghanaian Business Executive Officer (Executive Director) for Nestle Central & West Africa Region. During her 15 years with Nestle, she worked in various roles including Managing Director, Marketing Communications Director, and Business Unit Director, managing businesses and teams across 22 countries.

A thought leader and Chartered Marketer, she speaks and writes on leadership, Marketing, Communications, and intra-Africa trade, and is a contributor to the Harvard Business Review and CIM UK’s Catalyst Magazine for Marketing practitioners. She has received several honors for her contributions as a business leader.

Her professional qualifications include Executive Education in Leadership from the London Business School. She has a double degree in Politics and French from both the University of Sussex UK and The Higher Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence, France, and an MBA from Warwick Business School, UK.

Robert Dowuona Owoo is a Lawyer by profession and holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and an MSc in Finance and Management from Exeter University, UK.

He started his professional career with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ghana where he worked in various capacities and has thirteen (13) years’ experience in Securities (Capital Market) Regulations and Supervision.

Mr. Robert Dowuona Owoo left his position as Head of Research, Policy, and IT at the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013 to lead a team of experts as the first project director for the Ghana Commodity Exchange project from 2013 to 2017. He successfully led the Ghana team to design the current Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) model for Ghana.

Being the first of its kind in the West Africa sub-region, the GCX design and model is recognized as an innovative model that is currently being studied by other Countries within Africa, and the West Africa sub-region, seeking to establish a functioning Commodity Exchange. As a founding member of the Ghana Commodity Exchange, Mr. Dowuona Owoo has helped to successfully implement the GCX model which has helped structure Agricultural Commodity Trading in Ghana.

Mr. Robert Dowuona Owoo is currently the Chief Operations Officer of the GCX doubling up as the Head of Legal, Compliance, and Enforcement.

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Albert Nii Ayi Tagoe is a Chartered Management Accountant and currently the Head of Finance and Investment at the Ghana Commodity Exchange and has over a decade of experience in Financial Management. Albert was awarded in March 2023 as part of the Top 30 Public Sector Finance Leaders in Ghana. He holds an MBA in Finance with Distinction from Coventry University (UK), and also holds a Chartered Professional Membership with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA-UK), and the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG-GH).

He holds a First-Class Honours degree in Bachelor of Business Administration (Accounting Option) from Valley View University and a certification by the Ghana Stock Exchange for Investment and Securities.

Albert joined the Exchange for its’ implementation since January 2018 and has supported in setting up a robust and dynamic finance and control unit for the business with his expertise in Financial Management and Reporting, Financial Analysis, Budgeting and Financial projections, Treasury Management, Investment, Internal and External Audit, and Financial controls and Taxation. As part of his portfolio, he currently leads the teams’ engagement with Financial Institutions to extend financing to smallholder farmers in Ghana under its’  Warehouse Receipt and Aggregation Financing programme where the commodities serve as collateral for the financial institutions.

Albert worked for (7) years with Stanbic Bank Ghana in Credit Risk Management and Banking operations and received a Beyond Excellence Award in 2017 for service excellence. He also received an award as the Top Performing Student in Ghana in the CIMA Strategic Case Study Exam and the Top Performing Student in Ghana in the CIMA Performance Strategy Paper in 2014.

Richard Ankrah is an experienced and highly energetic member of the team and heads the Membership and Business Development team. 

He was a member of the GCX Project Team (GCX Project Phase) in charge of Membership, Outreach, and Communications.

He was and still is instrumental in the Exchange’s membership and clientele-base growth from inception to date and still improving. He supports management in identifying and establishing strategic partnerships the Exchange needs to reach its expected pinnacles. 

Prior to this, Richard worked at Metropolitan Health Insurance (formerly Momentum Africa) as the Business Development Manager; iBurst Africa as Country Marketing and Client Relations Manager: Internet Ghana Company Limited for 10 years holding various managerial positions after two years at Millicom Ghana Limited as a Customer Care Executive and Credit Controller.                                                              

Richard is an Associate Member of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Ghana, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Ghana respectively; holds a BBA and MBA in marketing Options, respectively. 

Vitus Otto Ninfaakang has over seventeen years of experience working in various leadership positions in the business environment in Ghana and West Africa.

At GCX, he led the processes that culminated in the acquisition of warehouses to serve as Exchange designated warehouses licensed by the Ghana Standards Authority and the Security and Exchanges Commission to store grains and issue warehouse receipts for depositors of these commodities. 

He also helped set up the Central Depository of the Exchange to host electronic warehouse receipts and played a leading role in setting up robust risk management and market surveillance systems for the Exchange.

Vitus has extensive knowledge in Exchange Operations gained on the job from the Ghana Commodity Exchange and from working visits to Commodity Exchanges in New York, Chicago, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Mumbai.

Dr. Harold Okai-Tettey is an avid researcher and practitioner of Computer Science. He holds a PhD degree in Computer Science from Rhodes University, South Africa, where he also obtained BSc and BSc (Hons) degrees in Computer Science and Electronics. Harold's research interest focuses on High Performance Digital Networks; Biometrics and Smart card applications; Automation and Control, and Artificial Intelligence. He contributed to R&D work for Yamaha Corporation (Hamamatsu – Japan), NEC Corporation (Tokyo-Japan), and UMAN GmbH (South Africa), as well as attended and participated in a number of conferences and conventions organized by the Audio Engineering Society.

Harold is also Executive Director of HarTet Technologies Limited, a technology research firm focused on R&D and consultancy in line with systems automation. He was the lead consultant on a number of projects with firms such as Genser Energy, ACDI VOCA Ghana, Ghana Poultry Project, Ghana Grains Council, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and the Ghana Commodity Exchange. Harold is also the lead solutions architect of SmartSale ERP (a Biometric and Smart card-enabled solution for the retail industry). Harold enjoys teaching courses in Computer Networks, Artificial Intelligence, Embedded Systems, and Software Development. He has over 8 years of teaching experience, he is an advisory member of the National Accreditation Board (under the Ministry of Education) and is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and the IEEE Computer Society. 

Wendy Malm is the head of Trading and Market Data at the Ghana Commodity Exchange. In this role she has executed several trading strategies and has continually supervised the processing and execution of all market transactions also ensured that all trades conform to the regulatory requirements of the GCX and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

She holds a BA (Hons.) in Economics and Geography from KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, and an MBA in Banking and Finance from the Paris Graduate School of Management, France. She is also certified by the Ghana Stock Exchange as an Authorized Dealing Officer and is a member of the Ghana Stockbrokers Association and a student member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana. 

Wendy is part of the team that developed the systems and processes for the setup of GCX. Prior to joining GCX, she served in several capacities within the SIC group for thirteen years attaining the rank of head of trading. She has Twelve years’ experience in Stock trading and operations, Eight (8) years’ experience in treasury and fixed-income trading and operations, and a years’ experience in Fund/Portfolio Management. At SIC Brokerage Limited, she also served as a member of the investment committee and shortly as a compliance officer.

Gabriel Tettey Aryeetey is the warehouse operations and quality control manager responsible for the overall development of the physical delivery management system including sampling, weighing, grading, inventory management, and stock control. He is also responsible for the development of exchange procedures and guidelines with regard to the selection and designation of warehouse operators. 

He has over 15 years of experience in warehouse management. His first four years of working career were at Jandel Limited as a warehouse and cost analysis officer, spent another nine years at Wienco Ghana Limited as the Northern sector warehouse manager and established warehouses in Tumu, tamale, Kintampo just to name a few before switching to Ghana commodity exchange.

Godfred Kofi Nyamekye is an Experienced Agricultural and Value chain expert with over ten (10) years of extensive experience with Agriculture development interventions in Ghana. Have worked with several donor-funded projects, such as USAID, EU, AFD, and GIZ in various technical and management capacities. He is skilled in capacity building in good agronomic practices, revolving input fund management, value links, value chain analysis, post-harvest management, contract farming, organizational development, and counseling. Strong consulting professional with a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) focused on Post-harvest Technology from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He currently heads the Value chains and Product Development at GCX.

Jemimah Naa-Adjeley Oppong-Gyamfi is a collaborative leader with excellent communication skills, known for her ability to foster effective relationships at all organizational levels. She holds an Associate Membership from the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management in Ghana and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional certification from the Society of Human Resource Management in the USA. Her educational background includes an MBA in Human Resource Management from Methodist University College, Ghana, and a BA in English from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Before her role as Head of HR & Admin at the Exchange, Jemimah held positions such as HR Manager, West Africa at SMEC International Pty Ltd, HR & Office Manager at Technology Management Group Ltd, Team Leader for Talent Resourcing & Onboarding at UBA Ghana, Human Resource Officer at UT Bank (now GCB), and Marketing Executive at Combert Impressions Ltd.

Opoku Debrah joined the Ghana Commodity Exchange in March 2023. Opoku comes on board with six years of experience in internal auditing from the rural banking and financial services industry in Ghana. Since joining the Exchange as the first auditor, Opoku has assisted management in developing an internal audit charter and a risk-based audit plan for the year under review.

Opoku worked with many organizations, with the current one being the head of the internal audit department at Akumadan Rural Bank Plc for five years. Working as head of audit with the bank, he managed to ensure sanity and integrity in the operations of the bank.

Opoku holds an H.N.D. in Accounting from Kumasi Technical University and a BCom. Accounting option from the University of Cape Coast, and an MSc. Accounting and Finance from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Opoku is a final-level student member of ICAG in good standing.